that the stories are good, but they missed the object with which
they had been written. Of course there is not in this any evidence
that I might not have succeeded a second time as I succeeded before,
had I gone on with the same dogged perseverance. Mr. Blackwood,
had I still further reduced my price, would probably have continued
the experiment. Another ten years of unpaid unflagging labour might
have built up a second reputation. But this at any rate did seem
clear to me, that with all the increased advantages which practice
in my art must have given me, I could not induce English readers
to read what I gave to them, unless I gave it with my name.
I do not wish to have it supposed from this that I quarrel with public
judgment in affairs of literature. It is a matter of course that
in all things the public should trust to established reputation. It
is as natural that a novel reader wanting novels should send to a
library for those by George Eliot or Wilkie Collins, as that a lady
when she wants a pie for a picnic should go to Fortnum & Mason.
Fortnum & Mason can only make themselves Fortnum & Mason by dint of
time and good pies combined. If Titian were to send us a portrait
from the other world, as certain dead poets send their poetry by
means of a medium, it would be some time before the art critic of
the Times would discover its value. We may sneer at the want of
judgment thus displayed, but such slowness of judgment is human and
has always existed. I say all this here because my thoughts on the
matter have forced upon me the conviction that very much consideration
is due to the bitter feelings of disappointed authors.
We who have succeeded are so apt to tell new aspirants not to
aspire, because the thing to be done may probably be beyond their
reach. "My dear young lady, had you not better stay at home and darn
your stockings?" "As, sir, you have asked for my candid opinion,
I can only counsel you to try some other work of life which may be
better suited to your abilities." What old-established successful
author has not said such words as these to humble aspirants for
critical advice, till they have become almost formulas? No doubt
there is cruelty in such answers; but the man who makes them has
considered the matter within himself, and has resolved that such
cruelty is the best mercy. No doubt the chances against literary
aspirants are very great. It is so easy to aspire,--and to begin!
A man cannot make a watch or a shoe without a variety of tools and
many materials. He must also have learned much. But any young lady
can write a book who has a sufficiency of pens and paper. It can
be done anywhere; in any clothes--which is a great thing; at any
hours--to which happy accident in literature I owe my success.
And the success, when achieved, is so pleasant! The aspirants, of
course, are very many; and the experienced councillor, when asked
for his candid judgment as to this or that effort, knows that among
every hundred efforts there will be ninety-nine failures. Then the
answer is so ready: "My dear young lady, do darn your stockings;
it will be for the best." Or perhaps, less tenderly, to the male
aspirant: "You must earn some money, you say. Don't you think
that a stool in a counting-house might be better?" The advice will
probably be good advice,--probably, no doubt, as may be proved by
the terrible majority of failures. But who is to be sure that he
is not expelling an angel from the heaven to which, if less roughly
treated, he would soar,--that he is not dooming some Milton to be
mute and inglorious, who, but for such cruel ill-judgment, would
become vocal to all ages?
The answer to all this seems to be ready enough. The judgment,
whether cruel or tender, should not be ill-judgment. He who
consents to sit as judge should have capacity for judging. But in
this matter no accuracy of judgment is possible. It may be that the
matter subjected to the critic is so bad or so good as to make an
assured answer possible. "You, at any rate, cannot make this your
vocation;" or "You, at any rate, can succeed, if you will try." But
cases as to which such certainty can be expressed are rare. The
critic who wrote the article on the early verses of Lord Byron, which
produced the English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, was justified in
his criticism by the merits of the Hours of Idleness. The lines had
nevertheless been written by that Lord Byron who became our Byron.
In a little satire called The Biliad, which, I think, nobody knows,
are the following well-expressed lines:--
"When Payne Knight's Taste was issued to the town,
A few Greek verses in the text set down
Were torn to pieces, mangled into hash,
Doomed to the flames as execrable trash,--
In short, were butchered rather than dissected,
And several false quantities detected,--
Till, when the smoke had vanished from the cinders,
'Twas just discovered that--THE LINES WERE PINDAR'S!"
There can be no assurance against cases such as these; and yet we
are so free with our advice, always bidding the young aspirant to
desist.
There is perhaps no career or life so charming as that of a successful
man of letters. Those little unthought of advantages which I just
now named are in themselves attractive. If you like the town, live in
the town, and do your work there; if you like the country, choose
the country. It may be done on the top of a mountain or in the
bottom of a pit. It is compatible with the rolling of the sea and
the motion of a railway. The clergyman, the lawyer, the doctor, the
member of Parliament, the clerk in a public office, the tradesman,
and even his assistant in the shop, must dress in accordance with
certain fixed laws; but the author need sacrifice to no grace,
hardly even to Propriety. He is subject to no bonds such as those
which bind other men. Who else is free from all shackle as to hours?
The judge must sit at ten, and the attorney-general, who is making
his (pounds)20,000 a year, must be there with his bag. The Prime Minister
must be in his place on that weary front bench shortly after
prayers, and must sit there, either asleep or awake, even though
---- or ---- should be addressing the House. During all that Sunday
which he maintains should be a day of rest, the active clergyman
toils like a galley-slave. The actor, when eight o'clock comes,
is bound to his footlights. The Civil Service clerk must sit there
from ten till four,--unless his office be fashionable, when twelve
to six is just as heavy on him. The author may do his work at five
in the morning when he is fresh from his bed, or at three in the
morning before he goes there. And the author wants no capital, and
encounters no risks. When once he is afloat, the publisher finds
all that;--and indeed, unless he be rash, finds it whether he be
afloat or not. But it is in the consideration which he enjoys that
the successful author finds his richest reward. He is, if not of
equal rank, yet of equal standing with the highest; and if he be
open to the amenities of society, may choose his own circles. He
without money can enter doors which are closed against almost all
but him and the wealthy. I have often heard it said that in this
country the man of letters is not recognised. I believe the meaning