VOLUME 4.

PLAGIARISM OUT OF BOUNDS. Just as we were going to press last month, the discovery was made that one of the latest numbers of Harper's new series of reprints from English novels was a deliberate perpetration of fraud upon a translation from the French of Émile Gaboriau. The extracts we published from both books in parallel passages must have made the offense clear at a glance, while yet, as we stated, the likeness of A Hard Knot to The Lerouge Case was by no means confined to the parts selected, but extended throughout the whole book. Differences are found in the arrangement of the order of narrative, in a change of sex of one of the principal characters, the introduction of a new character to fit the change of sex, and a removal of the scene from France to England,-differences which rather heighten the evidence of an attempt at decep

tion.

In this way, without a word of reference to the French author, or acknowledgment of the appropriation of ready-made materials, has Mr. Gibbon obviously imposed upon his publishers. It is the wholesale nature of the trespass, rather than the importance of Mr. Gibbon as a writer, that renders the case worthy of more than a passing notice. There can be but one opinion about it. The most superficial reader, innocent of a knowledge of the history and laws against plagiarism, would not hesitate to condemn such a proceeding. It would seem, indeed, that Mr. Gibbon had troubled himself really very little about the story in the original; for it is with the translation that the coincidences are most striking, the very words and gestures to minute details being reproduced. And a less daring offender would have been mindful of the quick eye and retentive memory of some omnivorous reader, or at least would have regarded the practical immorality of the legendary teacher who advised his pupils to "steal from folios, and not from octavos, or even from quartos."

Usually the question of plagiarism has been found a most difficult and delicate one to decide. It is asserted, indeed, that every great author has at one time or another been accused of it. To sustain the

NUMBER 37.

charge, however, often has been quite another matter. The few principles that have reached expression in the consideration of the various cases of literary thievery, real and supposed, ancient and modern, tend to a lenient view of such transgressions, the impossibility of absolute originality being readily admitted. Thus it is concluded that " No writer can be fully convicted of imitation, except there is a concurrence of more resemblance than can be imagined to have happened by chance, as where the same ideas are conjoined without any natural series of necessary coherence, or where not only the thought but the words are copied." So, also, "it is only when an inferior writer takes the thoughts and the ipsissima verba of great writers, and passes off the plunder as his own property, that the charge of plagiarism is worth entertaining," an indulgent view, certainly, yet one which may be sustained by many circumstances of authorship.

For the present generation has come at a late day upon the scene of literary action. A thorough working of the ground has given to the world a common stock of thoughts, sentiments, figures and expressions, which not only may be used freely, but should be well in mind in the case of a complete equipment for authorship. To recast these in modern form, to adapt them to present situations, to preserve them from oblivion, and at the same time to bring them to strike freshly the modern ear, is a large part of the literary work of the time. Add to this the unconscious reproduction of the constant reading in which we are steeped, and there is much reason for toleration of license in remodeling and adaptation, provided the saving grace of original expression and manner be included. But parrot-like repetition cannot therefore be tolerated or treated indulgently. The rash offender, guilty of this violation of common rights, should prepare himself for well-deserved contempt. In the present instance, the absence of international copyright excludes M. Gaboriau from legal redress, and renders the publishers only the party responsible for defense of the wrong.

HENRY JAMES, JR.

He was born in New York City in the year 1843, and his first lessons in life and letters were the best which the metropolis-so small in the perspective diminishing to that date-could afford. In his twelfth year his family went abroad, and after some stay in England made a long sojourn in France and Switzerland. They returned to America in 1860, placing themselves at Newport, and for a year or two Mr. James was at the Harvard Law School, where, perhaps, he did not study a great deal of law. His father removed from Newport to Cambridge in 1866, and there Mr. James remained till he went abroad, three years later, for the residence in England and Italy which, with infrequent visits home, has continued ever since.

The events of Mr. James's life—as we agree to understand events-may be told in a very few words. His race is Irish on his father's side, and Scotch on his mother's, to which mingled strains the generalizer may attribute, if he likes, that union of vivid expression and dispassionate analysis which has characterized his work from the first. There are none of those early struggles with poverty which render the lives of so many distinguished Americans monotonous reading, to record in his case: the cabin hearth-fire did not light him to the youthful pursuit of literature; he had from the start all those advantages which, when they go too far, become limitations.

Those who know the writings of Mr Henry James will recognize the inherited felicity of diction which is so striking in the writings of Mr. Henry James, Jr. The son's diction is not so racy as the father's; it lacks its daring, but it is as fortunate and graphic; and I cannot give it greater praise than this, though it has, when he will, a splendor and state which is wholly its own.

W. D. Howells in the Century.

The following are the works of Henry James, Jr., issued in book form: A Passionate Pilgrim, and other Tales. Transatlantic Sketches. Roderick Hudson. The American. The Europeans. Confidence. The Portrait of a Lady. Watch and Ward. Daisy Miller: a study. Daisy Miller: a comedy in three acts. Portraits of Places. Tales of Three Cities. The Siege of London, The Pension Beaurepas, and The Point of View. Washington Square. The Author of Beltraffio. Diary of a Man of Letters. Hawthorne: a biography. French Poets and Novelists. A Bundle of Letters. An International Episode.

HELEN JACKSON (H. H.).

The news of the death of Mrs. Helen Jackson— better known as "H. H.”—will probably carry a pang of regret into more American homes than similar intelligence in regard to any other woman, with the

possible exception of Mrs. H. B. Stowe, who belonged to an earlier literary generation. With this last-named exception, no American woman has produced literary work of such marked ability, and in all the minor matters of literary execution Mrs. Jackson was by far superior to Mrs. Stowe. Her fame was limited by the comparatively late period at which she began to write, and by her preference for a somewhat veiled and disguised way of writing. It is hard for two initial letters to cross the Atlantic, and she had therefore no European fame; and as she took apparently a real satisfaction in concealing her identity and mystifying her public, it is very likely that the authorship of some of her best prose work will never be absolutely known. Enough remained, however, to give her a peculiar hold both upon thoughtful and casual readers. . .

Few women who have such variety of nature as she had, make friends so warmly or so easily, or light up life for these friends in so many different ways. Her likes and dislikes were spontaneous, ardent, sometimes unjust; yet even the injustice was sometimes an inaccurately aimed impulse of justice in disguise; and when she was convinced of it—which indeed was not always she would be quick to apologize to any one whom she had wronged. In literature her work was conscientious and thorough beyond that of almost any American woman; she never slighted it, never willfully neglected details, never was weary of trying to perfect it. This applies especially to her prose. For her poetry, it is enough to say that it has won the applause of very fastidious critics-including emphatically the late Mr. R. W. Emerson-while her simpler poems are to be found widely distributed through the cottages and log-huts of our furthest borders, and have given comfort to many hearts. Many notices of her separate books may be found scattered through the magazines; but we can recall no systematic critical essay on her qualities as a writer except that contained in Higginson's Short Studies of American Authors. N. Y. Evening Post.

THE LITERARY WILL OF VICTOR HUGO. The following is the essential part of the literary testament of Victor Hugo:

I wish that, after my death, all my unpublished manuscripts, with any copies of them which may exist, and everything in my handwriting which I leave. behind, whatever its nature, be collected and handed to three of my friends, whose names are Paul Meurice, Auguste Vacquerie, and Ernest Lefevre. I give these friends full power to carry out entirely and completely my wishes.

I request them to publish my manuscripts in the following way: The manuscripts may be arranged under three heads-(1) works which are entirely completed; (2) works begun, partially carried out, but not finished, (3) sketches, fragments, scattered ideas in

verse or prose, thrown out here and there, either in my note-books or in loose sheets. I beg my three friends to make this selection with the greatest care, and, as I should have done myself, in the spirit and thought which they know to have been mine, and with all the friendship of which they have given me so many proofs. I request them to publish, with intervals to be fixed by them between each publication, first the complete works, next the works begun and partially finished, and lastly the fragments and scattered ideas. This last class of works, relating to the whole of my ideas, although without apparent connection, will form, I believe, several volumes, and will be published under the title, Ocean. Almost all of it was written during my exile. I restore to the sea what I received from her.

To meet the expenses of the publication of this body of works, there shall be withdrawn from my succession a sum of 100,000 francs, which will be reserved and applied to that purpose. Messrs. Meurice, Vacquerie, and Lefevre, after payment of the expenses, will receive, to be divided among them in the proportion of the work done by each-(1) on the first class of works 15 per cent. of the net profit, (2) on the second class 25 per cent. of the net profit, and (3) on the third class, which will require notes, perhaps prefaces, much time and toil, 50 per cent. of the net profit.

Independently of these three kinds of publications, my three friends, in the event of their considering it desirable to publish my letters after my death, are expressly intrusted by me with their publication, in conformity with the principle that letters belong, not to him who has received them, but to him who has written them. They will make the selection, and will be the judges of the conditions, of the propriety and expediency of publication. They will receive 50 per cent. from the profits of the publication of my letters.

The Rappel was founded by Victor Hugo, in conjunction with Messrs. Vacquerie and Meurice, who are, the former its political, the latter its literary editor. They add to the will a declaration, signed by them, saying:

"We are deeply touched by the confidence which Victor Hugo has placed in us, and deeply grateful to him for the immense honor that he has done us in selecting us as the editors of his manuscripts and the interpreters of his thoughts. We accept the trust. We do not accept money. For thirty years we have done for nothing what Victor Hugo asks us to continue. We do not require to be paid after his death, any more than while he lived. The first returns will be added to the subscriptions for the monument."

In a separate declaration M. Lefevre expresses his gratification at being associated with Messrs. Meurice and Vacquerie, and joins in what they have said.

The executors of the poet will see to the erection of a statue at Besançon and of a tomb worthy in the Pantheon. London Times.

SONNET.

Suggested by E. Burne Jones's Picture of King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid.

A beggar maiden, poor and pale was she,

In whom the King Cophetua saw his fate,
And brought her in, and on a chair of state
Set her for worship. Now kings' houses be
To homes of men of lowlier degree

As hollow husks; but with this pallid mate
Came suddenly to this king's house a freight
Of all that makes man's life most rich and free.
Love's glamour made of those high walls a place
Where gentle souls might dwell in time and space.
Nor feel of longest summer days the length.
Love's knight, his glimmering armor took on grace,
His very sword caught love light from her face;
He lent her beauty and she gave him strength.
Emily Pfeiffer in the Academy.

Give me a nook and a book,
And let the proud world spin round:
Let it scramble by hook or by crook
For wealth or a name with a sound.
You are welcome to amble your ways,
Aspirers to place or to glory;
May big bells jangle your praise,
And golden pens blazon your story!
For me, let me dwell in my nook,
Here, by the curve of this brook,
That croons to the tune of my book,
Whose melody wafts me forever
On the waves of an unseen river.

Give me a book and a nook
Far away from the glitter and strife;
Give me a staff and a crook,

The calm and the sweetness of life:
Let me pause-let me brood as I list,
On the marvels of heaven's own spinning,—
Sunlight and moonlight and mist,
Glorious without slaying or sinning.
Vain world, let me reign in my nook,
King of this kingdom, my book,
A region by fashion forsook :
Pass on, ye lean gamblers for glory,
Nor mar the sweet tune of my story!

William Freeland.

Dreams, books, are each a world: and books we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good;
Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
There find I personal themes, a plenteous store,
Matter wherein right voluble I am,
To which I listen with a ready ear;

Two shall be named, pre-eminently dear,-
The gentle lady married to the Moor;
And heavenly Una with her milk-white Lamb.
William Wordsworth.

REVIEWS.

GLENAVERIL.

GLENAVERIL; OR, THE METAMORPHOSES. By the Earl of Lytton (Owen Meredith). A poem in six books. 12mo. Sold by John Wanamaker, $1.10; by mail, $1.22. We prefer Glenaveril, on the whole, to Lucile. They are neither of them poems that will live; they are neither of them romances of any high merit; and Lucile is, perhaps, the more sparkling of the two. But it is certainly also more meretricious; its art is more pretentious, and its deficiencies in true imagination more glaring. Glenaveril is more easy, more natural, and, on the whole, more ingenious. The plot, though incredible, is fanciful and novel; and the vivacity with which it is told is not so frequently flippant as was the vivacity in Lucile. The ease with which the difficulties of the rhyme are met is in itself a source of amusement and interest, and the story flows along with a certain moderate attractiveness, due, we think, chiefly to the success with which the ingenuity of the story is reflected in the ingenuity of the rhyme.

What we miss, as in other such efforts of Lord Lytton's, is true imagination. Whenever Lord Lytton attempts to strike a deep chord, he fails, and produces a theatrical effect. Moreover, there is a spirit of caprice in the poem which makes one constantly aware of the superficiality of the mood in which it was written. While the framework of it is a highly ideal love story, going so far as to assert that hearts predestined for each other will find each other out by a sort of inspiration-nay, will have the means of anticipating distinctly the very form and face of him or her for whom love is destined-there is a thread of cynical scepticism running through the whole which is utterly inconsistent with this high-flown idealism, For example,

"It was Providence

(The name man's gratitude bestows on Fate When she, so often cruel, shows contrition) That managed this most timely apparition."

Again :

"But Error never doubts. All men who seem
Convinced, we should mistrust with all our might.
The danger from such persons is extreme,
Because all those who of their own have none
By other men's convictions are undone."

Or again :

"The boys, he knew, had on the self-same day
Begun the fatal malady of life."

Could a worse phrase be chosen by a poet whose object it is to sing the ideal happiness of one of those two beings, and not only his ideal happiness, but his predestined happiness, a happiness prepared for him

by a long chain of events linked together in the preestablished harmony of two distinct lives? It does not become a poet who chooses for his theme so transcendentally sublime a lot, to stud his poem, as Lord Lytton does, with all sorts of little scoffs at the misery of life and the blindness of fate,-sometimes scoffs at Revelation, sometimes scoffs at natural religion. Surely, if the plot of this story can be regarded as anything but pure extravagance, it should express a belief in the preordaining and minutely predisposing power of the creative mind over fate, which is absolutely inconsistent with the drift of some score or more of the sneers which the story contains. Here, for instance, is apparently Lord Lytton's opinion of the Book of Psalms :

666 'No, no!' cried Ivor, dear Emanuel,

Shut up that dreadful book! Read this! Be wise!
No more in Mesech let thy spirit dwell!

Forget awhile the fierce misanthropies
Of that fanatic race whose sullen spell

Unsweetens all, whose holiest ecstasies
Exhale in maledictions, whose fierce seers
With myrrh and amber mingle blood and tears!

And here is his view of the relative obligations which Science owes to Religion, and Religion does not owe to Science :

"The object that attracted next the eye

Was a long table, filling half the room;

It might have come from the refectory

Of one of those old convents, from whose doom
Many a rising university

The Reformation suffered to assume,
To the relief of its own revenue,
Not their lands only, but their chattels too.
"Even the ruins of establishments

Reared by Religion, and by her endowed,
Have thus contributed at all events

Some aid to those which Science, with a proud
Pretence of independence, still presents

As her unshared achievement to the crowd.
Alas, Religion no such aid receives

Out of the refuse of what Science leaves!"

of Saxony, and has nothing to do with the Hartz),— and that of The Falcon and the Dove, are well told. There is less ambitiousness in Glenaveril than in Lucile, and less sing-song verse. But Lord Lytton's is second-rate poetry and second-rate art at best. London Spectator.

MISS CLEVELAND'S BOOK.

GEORGE ELIOT'S POETRY, and Other STUDIES. BY Rose Elizabeth Cleveland. 4to. Sold by John Wana maker, $1.10; by mail, $1.27.

This volume derives an adventitious interest from the position of its authoress as mistress of the White House; but, although it may win only the ephemeral renown which flickers out in the dilettante's catalogue of Books by Royal and Noble Authors, it has a kind of worth that sets it apart from the books whose only excuse for being is their parentage-books which begin and end with a title-page. It is preferable to regard these essays and studies as the careful work, to parody a phrase, of a plain woman of the people; her careful, best mental work, but not originally intended for a larger audience than her circle of neighborhood friends. Too much prominence is given to them, they are set in too strong a light, when put forward as more than this-for example, as being a national book. Yet when, in accordance with this view, we do disregard the adventitious interest of the authorship, the work refuses to lose its representative and illustrative characteristics; it remains an extraordinary book for an ordinary woman to have written -a woman who is not a genius, nor even gifted with high talents, but distinguished among her sex merely by those qualities which in the case of a man earn for him the title of "the plain man of the people." A "plain man of the people" is by no means an average man; and this is not the book of an average woman. In the qualities of mind, in the practical ethics and ideal of womanly and manly character it displays, one sees, as at the domestic hearth of the republic, the faith, hope, and love, in the habit and practice of which the children are being nursed in thousands of enlightened humble homes; and in the literary style, in the intellectual interests and attainments exhibited, one sees sign and proof of the good of "female education "among us, for, as has been indicated, the authoress is not a "born writer "-her style and substance are the product of schools.

Such are some of the representative and illustrative characteristics which the curious and reflective American might discover in these essays. Examined as to their intrinsic worth, they would vary in value according as they are assayed for silver or gold. The influence of Emerson is paramount in style throughout, and in the matter of the moral essays the turn of his hand is wonderfully caught: there are sentences he

ous.

might have written. This is not out of any base or conscious imitation, but because the authoress's mind is permeated and charged with Emerson's influence. The pith is sometimes less exquisite, has a more acrid and country raciness than he would have approved, and the rhetoric is often too tinsel-like and artificial; but sense and clarity of mind and word are conspicuThere is no critical power, let us be ready to confess; and in the historical studies which make up the latter half of the book there is nothing not in common standard works, so far as fact is concerned ; neither is there any fine glow or illuminating imagination in the setting forth of the fact. The real power, the line of strength in all these essays, is in their moral apprehension, their intuitive certainty in the region of character, duty, and human association, and in particular in their sense of the simplicity of the elements of virtue. We may dissent from the positions-we may be too exquisite to agree here, too fond of scholarly exactness to be content there—but from the spirit we never dissent. It is the spirit in which the best of our stock has been bred.

Nation.

DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY.

DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY. Edited by Leslie Stephen. Volume III. Baker-Beadon To be completed in about fifty volumes. 8vo. Sold by John Wanamaker, $2.50; by mail, $2.70.

It is not Mr. Stephen's fault that the present instalment of his dictionary is less interesting than its predecessors. In a work of this kind there must necessarily be some rather arid spaces, and it happens that the present section is altogether wanting in names of the first importance. However, there is abundance of good and useful matter, and we discern no falling off in the sound and workmanlike quality of most of the articles. One of the longest of these is that devoted to Richard Baxter. It is by Dr. Grosart, and is a satisfactory, though not a very masterly piece of biography. The facts of Baxter's life are set forth in sufficient detail; but space might have been found for a few words on his position as a controversialist and writer on morals. In this matter there is some (perhaps unavoidable) lack of uniformity among the various articles. While one writer confines himself almost entirely to bare narrative, others indulge in elaborate analysis and detailed criticism. The notice of Prof. Francis Balfour contains little but an examination of the scientific position and personal character of this brilliant and promising young naturalist. Prof. Michael Foster writes with deep feeling of this Marcellus of the Cambridge world. The just proportion between biography and criticism is happily hit in Mr. W. Barclay Squire's pleasantly written article on Balfe. Mr. Squire's remarks on the place in musical history of the Irish composer are eminently moderate and judicious: