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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
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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" ¦ ¦ : ¦ ... - > .. . : ¦ . V ¦ .. > :: •¦ : ' - ¦ ¦¦ , '¦ - ' ^» W . ) /¦ : -. ' . ' - ¦ v -. ' ' - " .- ' . > . . ¦ - "¦¦ " r /¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ' . ' . - . - , '¦ , ¦ ¦¦ . fc 'W fP ^ * """ : ' : ' , ' ' ^^ S May 15 , 1890 The Publishers' Circular 5 6 5 — - ¦¦— - — ¦ * . _ . _ M
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
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Citation
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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/
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