1774. author is to be a kind of vagrant, picking up subsistence as Et. 46. he can, a loaf to-day, a crumb to-morrow, and that to such a man no special signification of respect in social life can possibly be paid. When Lord Mansfield proclaimed from the bench that there really existed such a thing as an author's right to his copy, his meaning was as little understood, as, three quarters of a century later, the author's claim to those few more years' enjoyment of the fruits of his own labour or genius, which only the other day was humbly solicited and painfully recovered* out of the confiscation applauded by Lord Camden. Nor, in marking thus the low account and general disesteem of their calling, are the literary class themselves to be exempted from blame. "It were well," said Goldsmith, on one occasion, with bitter truth, " if none but the dunces * By Mr. Justice (then Mr. Serjeant) Talfourd, to whom be all gratitude and honour for unwearied and persevering exertions which deserved a nobler reward. In his admirable preface to the republication of his Three Speeches on Copyright (1840), he expressly describes as a compromise" the measure which the House of Commons proclaimed to be far too liberal a compromise (by grossly mutilating it before they permitted it to pass), and declares his conviction of "the justice "of restoring perpetual copyright." "Suppose the art of printing had not been "invented, and the manuscript copies of a work were multiplied by writing, can "it be contended that the author might not specially contract with the purchaser or the donee of every transcript that he should not thence make other copies "for sale? How is the author's right varied by his being able in these times, "at the price of a printer's labour and skill, with greater ease to multiply the "copies of his work for his own pecuniary benefit, and for the instruction and "delight of the world. . . . A man of genius and integrity, who has received "all insult and injury from his contemporaries, obtains nothing from posterity but a name. Look at Daniel De Foe; recollect him pilloried, bankrupt, wearing away his life to pay his creditors in full, and dying in the struggle !-and his "works live, imitated, corrupted, yet casting off their stains, not by protection of law, but by their own pure essence. Had every schoolboy, whose young ima"gination has been prompted by his great work, and whose heart has learned to "throb in the strange yet familiar solitude he created, given even the halfpenny "of the statute of Anne, there would have been no want of a provision for his 66 children, no need of a subscription for a statue to his memory!" As I transcribe these eloquent words (January 1854), I become acquainted with the most striking practical comment which it would be possible for them to receive, in the fact that there is now living in Kennington, in deep though uncomplaining poverty, James De Foe, aged 77, the great-grandson of the author of Robinson Crusoe. "of society were combined to render the profession of "an author ridiculous or unhappy."* The profession themselves have yet to learn the secret of co-operation; they have to put away internal jealousies; they have to claim for themselves, as poor Goldsmith after his fashion very loudly did, that defined position from which greater respect, and more frequent consideration in public life, could not long be withheld; in fine, they have frankly to feel that their vocation, properly regarded, ranks with the worthiest, and that on all occasions to do justice to it, and to each other, is the way to obtain justice from the world. If writers had been thus * "Two contending writers often," he continues, "by the opposition of their "wit, render their profession contemptible in the eyes of ignorant persons, who "should have been taught to admire. And yet, whatever the reader may think "of himself, it is at least two to one but he is a greater blockhead than the most " scribbling dunce he affects to despise." Enquiry into Polite Learning. Chap. ix. This point is admirably touched in a masterly article which appeared two years ago in the Times, on the occasion of certain gross imputations thrown out against the honour of that journal. "There is nothing in which the social welfare of "this country is more intimately concerned than in the character and position of "the press. Not only are political parties dissolved, and political traditions obliter"ated, but even the 'liberal professions' of former days are breaking up around us, "and it is impossible to conjecture who in ten years' time may be barristers or "soldiers, consuls or diplomats, electors or representatives, statesmen or ministers. "There is but one power on the increase in the country, and that is the power of "public opinion. There is but one profession which will certainly be stronger in 1860 "than in 1851, and that is the profession of a journalist. Every year a larger "and larger portion of the population becomes agape for that peculiar knowledge "which is practically power, and every year the distributors of that knowledge "must grow both in influence and esteem. Already the journals of this country "discuss public measures with a talent which is borrowed (and often but imper"fectly) for more solemn deliberations, and the duties of a Minister are consider"ably relieved by the luminous exposition which every question receives before it "is formally submitted to legislative decision. The government of the British "empire is influenced in a most material degree by the metropolitan press. This "may or may not be an advantage; but it is certainly not meant for a boast, and "it is most incontestably a fact. In proportion, therefore, as our powers and responsibilities increase, it is of the greatest importance that our professional "reputation should be maintained. The administration of such authority should "be above suspicion no less than reproach, and it would be an act of inconceivable "folly to utter in the heats of professional rivalry such scandals as must do more harm in the general recoil than they could ever produce in the particular "assault." The Times; leading article of Tuesday, 18th November, 1851. 66 1774. Et. 46. 1774. true to themselves, the subject of Copyright might have been Et. 46. equitably settled when attention was first drawn to it; but, while De Foe was urging the author's claim, Swift was calling De Foe a fellow that had been pilloried, and we have still to discuss as in forma pauperis the rights of the English author. Confiscation is a hard word, but after the decision given above of the highest English court, it is the word which alone describes fairly the statute of Anne, for encouragement of literature. That is now superseded by another statute, having the same gorgeous name, and the same inglorious meaning for even this last enactment, sorely resisted as it was, leaves England behind any other country in the world, in the amount of their own property secured to her authors. In some, to this day, perpetual copyright exists; and though it may be reasonable, as Doctor Johnson argued that it was,* to surrender a part for greater efficiency of protection to the rest, yet the commonest dictates of natural justice might at * Dr. Johnson, says Boswell, speaking of the part he took when the question was under debate in the House of Lords, "was zealous against a perpetuity; but "he thought that the term of the exclusive right of authors should be considerably "enlarged. He was then for granting a hundred years." ii. 223. I will here subjoin also the argument by which Johnson, at Langton's dinner-table, illustrated this zeal against a perpetuity to which Boswell refers. It really contains the substance of all that has been, or can be, urged against the author on behalf of the public; and which no author would think of resisting, if only honest effect were given to the important admission with which it closes. "There seems," said he, "to be "in authors a stronger right of property than that by occupancy; a metaphysical "right, a right, as it were, of creation, which should from its nature be perpetual; "but the consent of nations is against it; and indeed reason and the interests of "learning are against it; for were it to be perpetual, no book, however useful, "could be universally diffused amongst mankind, should the proprietor take it "into his head to restrain its circulation. No book could have the advantage of "being edited with notes, however necessary to its elucidation, should the proprietor perversely oppose it. For the general good of the world, therefore, "whatever valuable work has once been created by an author, and issued out by him, should be understood as no longer in his power, but as belonging to the 66 public; at the same time the author is entitled to an adequate reward. This he "should have by an exclusive right to his work for a considerable number of "years." Boswell, iii. 302-3. 1774. least require that an author's family should not be beggared of their inheritance as soon as his own capacity to provide Et. 46. for them may have ceased. In every continental country this is cared for, the lowest term secured by the most niggardly arrangement being twenty-five years; whereas in England it is the munificent number of seven. Yet the most laborious works, and often the most delightful, are for the most part of a kind which the hereafter only can repay. The poet, the historian, the scientific investigator, do indeed find readers to-day; but if they have laboured with success, they have produced books whose substantial reward is not the large and temporary, but the limited and constant, nature of their sale. No consideration of moral right exists, no principle of economical science can be stated, which would justify the seizure of such books by the public, before they have had the chance of remunerating the genius and labour of their producers. But though parliament can easily commit this wrong, it is not in such case the quarter to look to for redress. There is no hope of a better state of things till the author shall enlist upon his side the power of which parliament is but the inferior expression. The true remedy for literary wrongs must flow from a higher sense than has at any period yet prevailed in England, of the duties and responsibilities assumed by the public writer; and of the social consideration and respect that their effectual discharge should have undisputed right to claim. The world will be greatly the gainer, when such time shall arrive; and when the biography of the man of genius shall no longer be a picture of the most harsh struggles and mean necessities to which man's life is subject, exhibited as in shameful contrast to the calm and classic glory of his fame. With society itself rests the advent of that time. APPENDIX TO VOLUME II. A. (i. 15, 130; ii. 427, 436, 468, &c. &c.) WHAT WAS PROPOSED AND WHAT WAS DONE FOR THE RELATIVES OF GOLDSMITH. FOR nearly thirty years nothing was done. Thirteen years had passed before it was discovered that anything might or could be done. The project of an edition with a life by Johnson was overthrown by a paltry dispute about the copyright of She Stoops to Conquer, and no one appeared to have anything to suggest in its place. At last the attention of Doctor Percy, now the Bishop of Dromore, was called, when in Dublin, to the destitute state of Maurice Goldsmith, in a manner which it was difficult to resist, and he opened a correspondence on the subject with his London friends. He described Maurice to them as a cabinet maker, who had been a decent tradesman, a very honest worthy man, very unfortunate and in great indigence. He urged subscriptions for his present help, and said that even a "guinea a piece from the members "of the Club" would be a great relief to him. Nevertheless this modest suggestion failed; and it was not till near two years from the time when the bishop first discovered Maurice's destitution,-the " poor creature," as he calls him, having been "starving" in that interval,—that a little place was obtained for him in the License-office of Dublin, and, for the scanty help of its additional pittance, he was made mace-bearer to the Irish Academy. What meanwhile had been started in another way for his relief, and the result of it, I must relate as distinctly as I can from the imperfect memoranda left in Percy's correspondence. The bishop had of course been consulted as to the proposed edition and life by Johnson, to whom indeed, for a time, he had handed materials for it possessed by himself |