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    THE CAPTAIN SPEAKS. ?. I ^ i "Sir," said...

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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 Captain Speaks. ?. I ^ I "Sir," Said...

    THE CAPTAIN SPEAKS . ? . I ^ i "Sir , " said Captain Slater , as he lighted His

    cheroot in the smoking-room of the Londojn , I " I will speak to you about the literature ! of i the Look year at . the I paper "will tell magazines you what ! Wh has y , been there doi halve jig . I been two or three fresh ones coming out evcfry I I 3 Ji & nonth W & J tit during UUlllI ^ the ( , iW , yJ W ear * - ^« . to K \ J > take lUA-V part i * . * . * . i . hi (« . i . the CJ . 1 ^ Great \_ J I tJ tAl . j '

    ! have Padding joined —ton in Handicap the race ; so and heavil thfc majority y weighted ' of them that j j they have not been able to make any running at all . j : j alley The name in London of every will street soon , square be used , court up , and , and . become blind I I a the reg result istered of title this for , sir / a ? Mag Wh . y And they what will have will ; be to j ! apply to the Metropolitan Board of Works to

    invent new names for old streets , to provide titles for the forthcoming magazines ; and they will have to procure new copies of all the old magazines and cyclopaedias at the British Musettm , to enable the contributors to the new publications

    b to e the their ru articles sh of read the ' in Gleaners time , so ' great and y he ill * Padders . * " Poetry , sir ? Ah ! here we have something choice , indeed . Have we not the Poet Cip ^ e , the Did you Poet ever Menken read La , and JVoj- ' the ade ? Poet If you Swinburne have liiot ?

    . don't . I have , and the only thing it suggests to me is the horrible idea of poetry being lashed to such a poet , hurled from Parnassus , and falling into the inky seiver of literature , where everyth ing that ^ f S V 4 ^ v W W is ^ ^ foul ^ trr H ^ p and w v v ^* v w filth * ^ VB V y T W , from " ^ ^ mw ^ ^ ^ the V ^ ^ w old " ^ w » ^ k ^^ Hol ^ m * ^^ ^^ « y w I ^ r r el ~^ 0 ^ l ^/

    street garbage to the ' Confessional Unmasked , * i seethes and stews amidst the rank and loathsome 1 ink-tipped reeds . j ** And what novels we have had during the yt ^ ar ! Novels written by boarding-school misses a ! fout

    great crimes and heroic criminals ! Novels wri ten by clerks about the habits and conduct of lords md ism ladies ! Novels ! Novels written written by by Boh women emians about about Boherri wome an n ! Old books under new titles Plagiarisms from the works of others . Translations from the French .

    ture Literary , sir , moral is a ity trade is all , and cant its and m humbug otto ought . Litera to be , - * Put money in thy till . ' Just think for a moi lent ot' the absurd hubbub made about poor Babinjjton this While : lie . What simply tran he slat do ed ? a Fr y ench nothing work by Octave -e . lian

    and Feuillet called , called it ' Circe 'Dalilah , ' ¦ ¦ aa , ' orig produced inal novel it as . his Was . own , not most offensive and . ^ - ' . brutal for two envious ! journals White for to such call a out literary * Stop success Thief ? ' and Was at it tacic not poor the j I i height of generosity for Babirigton ' s Editor to ; throw herself before her protect * nd defend him !| j from ignorant his noisy of ail true pursuers literary , \ yho princip showed le ? themselves Like Queen so

    Isal > eHa , when the indignant Barons burst upon her , and she exclaimed * Spare ! oh ! spare my gentle Mortimer , ' so did the great Queen of Fiction j heroically the noble call White to the ! What fierce ' and s that cruel you scribes askme to , spare sir ? Did I go to the Pickwick Banquet ? Of course I did .

    I went to see the great men eat and drink , and bow j their down homage before the . Was great it Pickwickian not an event , , and sir , , to offe stir r him the whole world pf Literature , Science , and Art ? The great Pickwickian was going to America to open a showand so all the i ^ ickwickian devotees

    assembled , round their idol , and beat their goiig 5 , and blew their trumpets , and called but to the anxious Universe to * Walk up ! Walk lip I' for the great Pickwickian was Alive ! Alive ! ' and was * just agoing to begin ! " Derogatorydo you call it ?

    Rubbish . Every literary man in these , days must have his show of some sort . Whether it is a recitation with comic voices and comic faces , arid two candles and a glass of water , or a panorama with comic singing , or imitations of vulgar old

    women , Punch and Judy , and a pig under a gate , it does not matter . If he wants to make mon profession ey , and , he rai mu se st the ha s ve tand ard show of t ! he Wh liter y si ar r y I should not be in the least surprised to . see some day the author of ' Pelham' going about

    the * wo country rking figures with ' a o wax f the -work princi exhibition pal characters , containing of his ] j creation ; or the Poet Laureate visiting the watering p poems laces ¦ " The with to R the oyal his accompaniment face Press blackened has been of , busy and a banj singing , sir , o during . his own the year pa their st year work to come , and to . do pro . Grey mi What se , s t Martin o be m , o name Hel re so ps of , du will ri the ng have new the work announced ? Is it not ' Life in the Highlands

    ; the or But compani ter Scotch on wo ' ? rk , a so nd , m will ay we not not this soon be expec called « Life in Higher—land ; or Melted Pats ' ? There , sir Waiter , I ' ve ! tol br d ing you me all * I The know Quarterl about y the . '" literary year .

    Pc00801

• Citation
  • Tomahawk (1867-1870), June 27, 1868, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/attw_27061868/page/8/