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    THE ART OF AUTHORSHIP.*

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    The Law Of Newspaper Libel.* Mr. Kelly V...

    1 by seeks the to decisions provide a practical of the Courts treatise , but on the rather law

    as affected _ ^ H and de mm fined j- ^ * ml b y the . ^ m Acts . of 1881 _ _» - . _ and 1888 . After a brief examination ___ __ . __ of the _

    \ distinction JH A mm- -v— — _— — - between libel and slander , exclusive — ^ attention rnf is devoted to the former . __ - __ and T _ _ _ mainly _

    m ^^ r ^^ - ^^ that — — kind of libel which finds , a channel — — ^ through the newspaper press . In brief

    compass Mr . Kelly gives an account of all the more important actions for libel in which

    light was thrown on the meaning of the law . Journalists have still some reason to complain

    that the existing enactments press in certain directions with undue severity on newspapers .

    At the same time , recent decisions have made it clear thatso farat all eventsas public

    meetings are , concern , ed , a fair honest , bond fide report i . of the proceedings X C 3 is no longer O open Ato

    challenge . At the same time , Mr . Kelly does not fail to point out that this immunity has

    been once more threatened by the untoward decision of the House of Lords in the case of McDougall v . Knight . This case is of so much

    importance that we are glad to find that , not only are the grounds CJ of the jud « Jgmen Ot in ques J .-

    tion in _ fullbut also the more intelliible reasons for a , contrary % / view expressed JL in g the

    reversed ruling in the Court of Appeal . The value of this book is heightened by the fact

    that every enunciation of a principle reproduced in its pages is given in the exact words of the judge who made it . Not merely is

    \ l O ml there a report of every important case up to datebut the full text of all the Libel Acts is

    also , included in the work .

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    The Art Of Authorship.*

    THE ART OF AUTHORSHIP . *

    Mr . Bainton , so far as we are aware , is entirely unknown to famebut he has

    nevertheless produced a notable , book , chiefly by the exercise of courtesy , tact , and a lavish use of

    postage stamps . Itappears that some time ago a group of ambitious ^ young men—we presume belonging to some provincial mutual

    improvement society—invited him to lighten their darkness concerning the art of

    composition and the methods to be employed in winning JL efficiency in public speech . Mr . Bainton was

    perhaps able , as the outcome of his own exper x ience 7 to — say — something . _ to the point A to them

    on the la , tter subject ^ ; bu o t he found himself considerably perplexed when directly appealed

    to on the art of literary composition . He seems however to be a man with plenty of

    mother , -wit and , we are bound to add no lack / of audacity tj ; there , fore , courtesy % l 7 , tack , , and

    postage stamps were called into play , and a regiment of more or less eminent authors took the bait and the thing was done . Mr . Bainton's

    part of the book consists of an introduction , which does not extend beyond two pages , a

    of still reflections shorter summary which fo at rm the the end setting , and a nu for mb the er

    pearls of speech which he has collected o . Almost the whole of this interesting book

    is in reality made up of literary reminiscences , Bainton * The . Art James qf Authors Clarke h & ip Co , compiled ., Fleet Street and , edited B . O . by George fflrl ¦ 1 ¦ ¦ ' '

    The Art Of Authorship.*

    hints as to methods of work , and advice to young ml qp beg c ? inners __ - , contributed _ ___ in —letters to Mr .

    Bainton by ladies and gentlemen well known at the publishing houses and circulating libraries . Place aux dames ! Mrs . Oliphant

    states that she got into print before she was twenty-one , somewhat to her own astonishment

    and rather to the amusement of her friends , who had previou J . sly treated her ' scribbling Oas

    to if it be had a girl been 's natural the fancy occupation -work then . From supposed her

    earliest days Mrs . Oliphant has been an omnivorous reader . Miss Paget , better known by her ; nom de plume ' Yernon Lee , ' declares that she

    is conscious of having derived much benefit from an old-fashioned book which had a great vogue eighty or a hundred years agobut is

    O O t / tf O 7 , now almost forgotten—' Blair ' s Rhetoric ' Miss Amelia B . Edwards is a strong believer in the virtues of revision and excisionShe

    . is an example of alarming precocity , for she set the printers X to work with a little poem X . i

    when still at the tender age of seven . Miss Edwards duly returns thanks to Macaulay , HazlittLambShelleyand De Quinceyand

    she ^^~—~^*^ mr ^ v ^^~*** expresses V V , m ^^^^ m m *^ ^ ^^ h r \^ ¦ , m her »^ ^ m <^ ^ mr ^ m faith ^ mt ^^ w , « ^* w 4 in * ^* ^ ' ^ a ^ mm ^^ ^^ ' fine ¦ - ^ v j 'W * 'mm ^ m wmt sense ~^ v ^ mr j M , 1 ^ of 4 H ^*^ music and a good ear . ' Mrs . Lynn Linton

    declares that she knows of no better method ! of improving the style than that of reading i

    good authors simply for the sake of their method ; analysing ¦ f studyinggetting to the

    heart of their power KJ , . Miss V KJ A , . mJ E . Bay \ J ley , sowidely known to the reading public as ' Edna

    Lyall , ' like the sensible woman we always thouga ht her to be , Isay */ s the * great o thing ois , '

    continual practice and continual patience , and \ you a readiness . Before to we hav part e your company faults with pointed the out ladies to | i

    it is only fair to listen to the testimony of Miss Blanche Willis Howard , a distinguished

    novelist 4 Without on the other I side " would of the A to tlantic : young writer arrogance as 1 say every day say and every every

    , hour to myself— be honest , be fearless . In every heart lie the possibilities of love and suffering and tragedy . Seek the truth that is

    near you . Do not imagine it is in India or in the p lanet Mars . Write the simp x . le truth , and

    style will take care of itself . ' We have left ourselves scarcely room even to hint at the literary and social verdicts

    delivered by Professor Huxley , Mr . Aubrey De VereCanon LiddonMarion Crawford ¦

    Jo hn Burroug — , ,- hs , Lewis Morris , , Thomas Hardy , , William BlackSamuel SmilesJulian Haw-, ,

    thorne , and a crowd of others . We can only dip here and there into the book

    and take a few representative names almost at random . Mr . Russell Lowell is modest

    enough to declare that , if he has attained to any clearness of style , that circumstance is ;

    partl upon y him due as to a the lecture demands r for twenty which years were at made the University of Harvard . 4 Long ago Mr . Lowell

    formulated frvmrmln / hArl the thfi rule ruin that that ' fiv very erv sen sentence tence m muftt ust be clear in itself , and never too long to be carr «¦ ied m without ¦ - ¦ - ¦ risking —m its -- balance r - - on a sing r--m le

    breatli - ^ v ^»« " *^^ ^^ - ^— - ^^ , ^ of the ^ - ^ — " ^ speaker ~ " "" - — ' . ' Er . nest — Renan , scores ^ a nmr capital ^^ ^ rm * mf ^ mm ¦ ~ mr 1 ^™™ ^^ point v * ^ " *^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ " when ' " " — —¦ ^~^ ' — ~— he — says — -- _ - ^ that — . _ . goo „ _ d

    training of the mind is the only school of good style ; lacking that , all that is attainable is 3 ® j

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), May 15, 1890, page 565, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15051890/page/15/