Part 10 (1/2)

Literary criticism in the present day has become a profession,--but it has ceased to be an art Its object is no longer that of proving that certain literary work is good and other literary work is bad, in accordance with rules which the critic is able to define English criticiso so far as this It attempts, in the first place, to tell the public whether a book be or be not worth public attention; and, in the second place, so to describe the purport of the work as to enable those who have not ti it to feel that by a short cut they can become acquainted with its contents Both these objects, if fairly well carried out, are salutary Though the critic h not unfrequently he be a young ment still unfixed, yet he probably has a conscience in the matter, and would not have been selected for that work had he not shown souide to the undiscerning, he will be better than no guide at all Real substantial criticism must, from its nature, be costly, and that which the public wants should at any rate be cheap Advice is given to h it may not be the best advice possible, is better than no advice at all Then that description of the work criticised, that co of the much into very little,--which is the work of many modern critics or reviewers,--does enablesaid, ithout it would know nothing

I do not think it is incumbent on me at present to name periodicals in which this work is well done, and to ive offence, and ht probably be unjust But I think I may certainly say that as soreat praise for the enerally, so are others open to very severe censure,--and that the praise and that the censure are chiefly due on behalf of one virtue and its opposite vice It is not critical ability that we have a right to demand, or its absence that we are bound to deplore Critical ability for the price we pay is not attainable It is a faculty not peculiar to Englishmen, and when displayed is very frequently not appreciated But that critics should be honest we have a right to demand, and critical dishonesty we are bound to expose If the writer will tell us what he thinks, though his thoughts be absolutely vague and useless, we can forgive him; but when he tells us what he does not think, actuated either by friendshi+p or by animosity, then there should be no pardon for hilish criticism of which there is most reason to complain

It is a lamentable fact that men and women lend themselves to this practice who are neither vindictive nor ordinarily dishonest It has become ”the custom of the trade,” under the veil of which excuse soauthor learns that so much has been done for A by the _Barsetshi+re Gazette_, so ain, soPulpit_, and is told also that A and B and C have been favoured through personal interest, he also goes to work a the editors, or the editors' wives,--or perhaps, if he cannot reach their wives, with their wives' first or second cousins When once the feeling has come upon an editor or a critic that he may allow himself to be influenced by other considerations than the duty he owes to the public, all sense of critical or of editorial honesty falls from him at once _Facilis descensus Averni_ In a very short time that editorial honesty becomes ridiculous to himself It is for other purpose that he wields the power; and when he is told what is his duty, and what should be his conduct, the preacher of such doctrine seems to him to be quixotic ”Where have you lived, my friend, for the last twenty years,” he says in spirit, if not in word, ”that you come out noith such stuff as old-fashi+oned as this?” And thus dishonesty begets dishonesty, till dishonesty seelorious to assist struggling young authors, especially if the young author be also a pretty woh still pleasing, departs further froood In ay can the critic better repay the hospitality of his wealthy literary friend than by good-natured criticism,--or more certainly ensure for himself a continuation of hospitable favours?

Soentleman well known then in literary circles, showed me the manuscript of a book recently published,--the work of a popular author It was handsomely bound, and was a valuable and desirable possession It had just been given to hi journals of the day As I was expressly asked whether I did not regard such a token as a sign of grace both in the giver and in the receiver, I said that I thought it should neither have been given nor have been taken My theory was repudiated with scorn, and I was told that I was strait-laced, visionary, and ie did not lie in the fact of that one present, but in the feeling on the part of the critic that his office was not debased by the acceptance of presents from those whom he criticised This man was a professional critic, bound by his contract with certain employers to review such books as were sent to him How could he, when he had received a valuable present for praising one book, censure another by the same author?

While I write this I well know that what I say, if it be ever noticed at all, will be taken as a straining at gnats, as a pretence of honesty, or at any rate as an exaggeration of scruples I have said the sa it

But none the less afor success have forced upon theest efforts should befor praise Those who are not familiar with the lives of authors will hardly believe hoill be the forles will take:--how little presents will be sent to men rite little articles; how much flatterylibrary; hat profuse and distant genuflexions approaches areof the tereat thunderer of some metropolitan periodical publication! The evil here is not only that done to the public when interested counsel is given to them, but extends to the debasement of those who have at any rate considered themselves fit to provide literature for the public

I am satisfied that the remedy for this evil must lie in the conscience and deport could be produced that it is disgraceful for an author to ask for praise,--and deraceful in every walk of life,--the practice would gradually fall into the hands only of the lowest, and that which is done only by the lowest soon becomes despicable even to thes with it at best very poor reward That work of running after critics, editors, publishers, the keepers of circulating libraries, and their clerks, is very hard, and reeable He who does it must feel himself to be dishonoured,--or she It may perhaps help to sell an edition, but can never make an author successful

I think it olden rule in literature that there should be no intercourse at all between an author and his critic The critic, as critic, should not know his author, nor the author, as author, his critic As censure should beget no anger, so should praise beget no gratitude The young author should feel that criticis from heaven, man accepts as fate Praise let the author try to obtain by wholesome effort; censure let him avoid, if possible, by care and industry But when they co from some source which he cannot influence, and hich he should not reeable trouble into which an author e himself than of a quarrel with his critics, or anythem It is wise to presume, at any rate, that the reviewer has si to the dictates of his conscience Nothing can be gained by co the reviewer's opinion If the book which he has disparaged be good, his judgment will be condement will be confirmed by others Or if, unfortunately, the criticisenerally that such ultimate truth cannot be expected, the author may be sure that his efforts ht If injustice be done hinity of the position which he ought to assume

To shriek, and scream, and sputter, to threaten actions, and to swear about the town that he has been belied and defarammar or a false metaphor, of a dull chapter, or even of a borrowed heroine, will leave on thebut a sense of irritated i from an author's work any assertion by a critic injurious to the author's honour, if the author be accused of falsehood or of personal motives which are discreditable to hie It is hoped, however, that he may be able to do so with clean hands, or he will so stir the mud in the pool as to come forth dirtier than he went into it

I have lived lish criticism of the day has been vehemently abused I have heard it said that to the public it is a false guide, and that to authors it is never a trustworthy Mentor I do not concur in this wholesale censure There is, of course, criticism and criticism There are at this moment one or two periodicals to which both public and authors h there are e may be obtained But it is well that both public and authors should knohat is the advantage which they have a right to expect There have been critics,--and there probably will be again, though the circulish literature do not tend to produce them,--with power sufficient to entitle thereat men have declared, _tanquaood and so far bad, or that it has been altogether good or altogether bad;--and the world has believed theiven their reasons, explained their causes, and have carried conviction Very great reputations have been achieved by such critics, but not without infinite study and the labour of many years

Such are not the critics of the day, of e are now speaking In the literary world as it lives at present some writer is selected for the place of critic to a newspaper, generally sos a column shall reviehatever book is sent to hih for the purpose, if the amount of honorarium as measured with the amount of labour will enable him to do so A labourer must measure his work by his pay or he cannot live Froeneral reader has no right to expect philosophical analysis, or literary judgment on which confidence may be placed But he probably may believe that the books praised will be better than the books censured, and that those which are praised by periodicals which never censure are better worth his attention than those which are not noticed And readers will also find that by devoting an hour or two on Saturday to the criticisms of the week, they will enable themselves to have an opinion about the books of the day The knowledge so acquired will not be great, nor will that little be lasting; but it adds so to the pleasure of life to be able to talk on subjects of which others are speaking; and the h the literary notices in the _Spectator_ and the _Saturday_himself as well able to talk about the new book as his friend who has brought that new book on the _tapis_, and who, not improbably, obtained his information from the same source

As an author, I have paid careful attention to the reviehich have been written on my oork; and I think that noell knohere I reasy adulation, where I shall be cut up into ht of those who love sharp invective, and where I shall find an equal ment, as to exhibit the i it all there is much chaff, which I have learned how to throw to the winds, with equal disregard whether it praises or blames;--but I have also found some corn, on which I have fed and nourished myself, and for which I have been thankful

CHAPTER XV

_THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BarseT_--LEAVING THE POST OFFICE--_ST PAUL'S MAGAZINE_

I will now go back to the year 1867, in which I was still living at Walthaht the house there which I had at first hired, and added rooms to it, and made it for our purposes very co ht as it should be We had a do of our butter and hay For strawberries, asparagus, green peas, out-of-door peaches, for roses especially, and such everyday luxuries, no place was ever more excellent It was only twelve miles from London, and admitted therefore of frequent intercourse with thecountry for hunting purposes No doubt the Shoreditch Station, by which it had to be reached, had its drawbacks My average distance also to the Essex meets enty ht to expect It ithin my own postal district, and had, upon the whole, been well chosen

The work I did during the twelve years that I rereat I feel confident that in a that tilish literature Over and above my novels, I wrote political articles, critical, social, and sporting articles, for periodicals, without number I did the work of a surveyor of the General Post Office, and so did it as to give the authorities of the depart I hunted always at least twice a week I was frequent in the whist-room at the Garrick I lived much in society in London, and was made happy by the presence of many friends at Waltham Cross In addition to this ays spent six weeks at least out of England Few men, I think, ever lived a fuller life And I attribute the power of doing this altogether to the virtue of early hours It wasat 530 AM; and it was also room, whose business it was to call me, and to whom I paid 5 a year extra for the duty, allowed hi all those years at Waltham Cross he was never once late with the coffee which it was his duty to bring ht not to feel that I owe more to hiinning at that hour I could complete my literary work before I dressed for breakfast

All those I think who have lived as literary ree with ht to write But then he should so have trained hi those three hours,--so have tutored hishis pen, and gazing at the wall before him, till he shall have found the words hich he wants to express his ideas It had at this tih of late I have become a little lenient to myself,--to write with my watch before me, and to require from myself 250 words every quarter of an hour I have found that the 250 words have been forthcoularly as my watch went ButI always beganthe work of the day before, an operation which would takewith ly reco That their work should be read after it has been written is a matter of course,--that it should be read twice at least before it goes to the printers, I take to be awhat he has last written, just before he recommences his task, the writer will catch the tone and spirit of what he is then saying, and will avoid the fault of see to be unlike himself This division of ties of an ordinary novel voluiven as its results three novels of three volureatly acerbated the publisher in Paternoster Row, and which must at any rate be felt to be quite as much as the novel-readers of the world can want from the hands of one man

I have never written three novels in a year, but by following the plan above described I have writtento it over a course of years, I have been enabled to have always on hand,--for some time back now,--one or two or even three unpublished novels in my desk beside me Were I to die now there are three such besides _The Prime Minister_, half of which has only yet been issued One of these has been six years finished, and has never seen the light since it was first tied up in the wrapper which now contains it I look forith sorim pleasantry to its publication after another period of six years, and to the declaration of the critics that it has been the work of a period of life at which the power of writing novels had passed froes may be printed first

In 1866 and 1867 _The Last Chronicle of Barset_ was brought out by George Smith in sixpenny monthly numbers I do not know that this mode of publication had been tried before, or that it answered very well on this occasion Indeed the shi+lling reatly with the success of novels published in nu that so , in which a portion of one orto spend theirthat this certainly had beco numbers, Mr Smith and I determined to make the experiment with sixpenny parts As he paid me 3000 for the use of my MS, the loss, if any, did not fall upon ether successful

Taking it as a whole, I regard this as the best novel I have written

I was never quite satisfied with the development of the plot, which consisted in the loss of a cheque, of a chargeit, and of absolute uncertainty on the part of the clergyman himself as to the manner in which the cheque had found its way into his hands I cannot quite make myself believe that even such a ot it; nor would the generous friend as anxious to supply his wants have supplied the the cheque of a third person Such fault I acknowledge,--acknowledging at the sa with complete success the intricacies of a plot that required to be unravelled But while confessing so much, I claireat accuracy and great delicacy The pride, the humility, the manliness, the weakness, the conscientious rectitude and bitter prejudices of Mr Craere, I feel, true to nature and well described The surroundings too are good Mrs Proudie at the palace is a real wo at the deanery is also real