respondence, and my articles were published with delightful frequency. My connection with the Philadelphia American began in this way: "PLYMOUTH, N. H., October 4, 1880. Dear Sir:-I write you in behalf of a new weekly paper-something between the Nation and the London Saturday Review in character, of which I am the Managing Editor. It will make its first appearance October 16th. I have already enlisted the services of E. C. Stedman, T. W. Higginson, Paul H. Hayne, Henry Watterson, and many others of equal and greater prominence. I should like to have your services, and, if convenient, an article of about 2000 words on 'Baltimoreans in Literature,' for the MSS. of which I shall be happy to exchange my check. If you care to write, I should be glad to have the article-which i trust will lead to a mutually agreeable connection-by October 16th. I am, yours sincerely, W. R. BALCH, Managing Editor. I publish this letter because it is pleasant to recall the beginning of a newspaper connection which proved one of the most satisfactory of my whole literary experience. Mr. Balch was soon succeeded by Mr. Howard M. Jenkins, who asked me to prepare a series of papers on Paul H. Hayne, John Esten Cooke, and other Southern writers. I also did special reviewing for the American, and wrote many papers on Southern social and literary subjects. Equally agreeable was my acquaintance with Mr. Edward Abbott, the editor of the Literary World, who always wrote briefly, and to the point, but with never-failing courtesy. The checks from him were always promptly sent, and satisfactory, excepting when I wrote a very exhaustive article on "The Portraits of Poe." On this occasion, he wrote: "We should feel very sorry to repel a valued contributor by paying him less than he thought his work. was worth; we cannot always meet the expectations of our contributors. We feel that we did not meet yours in the case of 'The Portraits of Poe.' If you will tell us what you may expect for 'Poe in Richmond,' we can tell you at once whether we can afford to take the article." I quote the above note as a specimen of the courtesy of editors twenty years ago, a courtesy which might be imitated with advantage by some of the lords of the press at the present time. In those good old days, printed slips to the rejected were unknown-would-be con tributors were treated with the polite consideration which one gentleman should show to another who is calling upon him. The insolent behaviour of some American editors is equivalent to slamming the door in the face of the visitor. I mention no names-those who offend in this respect should strike their breast, and say peccavi, and make a firm resolution to sin no more. Let them remember that it was said of the great Duke of Marlborough that it was more agreeable to be refused a favour by him than to have one granted by any other person. If these offending editors had the sense that Charles Dickens had, they would give clever unknown. writers a cordial welcome, instead of treating them with cold indifference. He knew the value of new blood, and kept up the interest of his magazine by encouraging all the bright young writers of his time. He had a rare genius for discovering literary talent, and many gifted authors were indebted to his discernment for their introduction to the public. One of the worst effects of the pernicious policy pursued by some wealthy periodicals of paying for the name of the writer instead of the merit of the writing was once shown by the Youth's Companion which paid James G. Blaine a good round sum for a dull article on the Congressional Globe, which could have been easily written by the youngest clerk of the Senate or House of Representatives, and for one-tenth of what Mr. Blaine was paid, but he was paid for his name, not for his work. The Ladies' Home Journal paid Dr. Talmage, the sensational preacher, $5000 a year for articles which, if sent by an unknown contributor, would, very properly, have been thrown into the waste basket, instead of being published. One of the most striking cases of "a name, not merit" was furnished by the octogenarian verses of Tennyson. In the full splendour of his intellect, he wrote some of the noblest poetry that genius has ever given to the world. But he out-lived his genius and in his last years wrote verses which the high and mighty magazine editors would have indignantly returned to an unknown writer, but, coming from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the Poet Laureate of England, these same high and mighty editors grovelled at his feet to get a few drivelling lines from him, yet some of these fellows have the effrontery to declare that they accept articles on their merits, and not on the names of the writers. The first article sent by me to Harper's Magazine was "The American Graces,' which told the story of the Misses Caton, three beautiful Baltimore sisters who married into noble English houses-the Duchess of Leeds, the Marchioness of Wellesley, and Lady Stafford. These ladies were the granddaughters of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving Signer of the Declaration of Independence. This was followed by an article on "The Social Athens of America," Baltimore from a social point of view, with rare portraits of the belles and beauties, past and present of the Monumental City. This article proving successful, I was sent down to Richmond to write up that city on the same lines. I called this article "The City of Fair Women and Brave Men," which distinctive title was changed, without my permission to the trite and meaningless "Some Richmond Portraits," and, in order to fit the size of the article to the space at the disposal of the magazine, it was cut down unmercifully. Consequently, the people of Richmond, who had received me with true Southern cordialit,, received the magazine containing the article with mingled disappointment and indignation. A large portion of the latter was showered upon my devoted head as the author of the offending article; the public, not being admitted to secrets of the sanctum, held me responsible. I felt indignant in my turn, and wrote the editor a letter in which I expressed my feeling on the subject. This was a mistake: it is unwise, imprudent, impolitic to com-plain to an editor, for editors are very sensitive, and some of them have long memories. This misunderstanding with Harper's Magazine happened fifteen years ago, and no article of mine has been accepted by the same editor in all these years. Nota bene: avoid all misunderstandings with editors: pocket their checks and kicks with equal equanimity. I forgot to mention, when speaking of my Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte, that the English edition came out just about the time the tragical death of the Prince Imperial called the attention. of the world to the Bonaparte family. The auspicious appearance of the book caused it to attract the attention of the leading English journals. The London Times devoted a leader to it. The Saturday Review was, as usual, caustic; the Academy displayed much ignorance, and spoke of the author as a Frenchman, not knowing, of course, that my ancestor came to America before the American Revolution. The Athenaeum, the Spectator, and other English journals published articles, but it was reserved for Blackwood's to devote nineteen pages to it, under the title of "An American Princess." These confessions of mine are perfectly frank, and are intended to be useful. My literary life has been neither a brilliant success nor a disheartening failure. I have written successful books, but they were not so profitable as writing for magazines and periodicals generally. I have kept a careful record of every dollar received from my literary and journalistic work. From this record, the following quotations may prove interesting and instructive: "The Baltimore Bonapartes," Scribner's Monthly.. "The Calvert Family," Lippincott's Magazine "The City of the Sultan," The Chautauquan "Poe, Real and Reputed," Godey's "American Biography," Appleton's "Some Richmond Portraits," Harper's "The Social Athens of America," Har- Graces," Harper's "European Correspondence," Literary World, etc... "The American Bonaparte," International Review.. "Madame Bonaparte's Letters from Articles about Europe, etc., New York "The Literary Salons of London," The Chautauquan "Jefferson Davis Speaks," New York Sun Letters to the Washington Capital. "Unveiling of the Lee Statue." Philadelphia Press, Memphis Appeal, etc.. $80.00 31.00 30.00 25.00 85.00 140.00 70.00 150.00 125.00 60.00 200.00 60.00 150.00 40.00 115.00 100.00 100.00 150.00 190.00 35.00 helped to swell the aggregate amount to something less, in round numbers, than $10,000. This is a pretty good showing for a man the time of whose actual literary work does not represent ten years. Looking back to the time when with all the enthusiasm of youth, I set out to conquer the world with my pen, I am now perfectly conscious how poorly equipped I was for the glorious work. I left college with my head stuffed with ancient learning-I had read Ovid, Cæsar, and other classical authors, but not a line of Shakespeare, Milton, Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith, Byron, Dickens, Thackeray, Poe, Hawthorne, Irving, Longfellow, Tennyson. I soon discovered that my "quaint and curious" college lore was just as available in the American literary market as a handful of old Roman and Greek coins would be available in the meat and vegetable market. I found it was necessary to begin my education all over-necessary to change my antique coins for the pure gold of English literature. I devoted three years to the study of the best English literature. I avoided all so-called literary clubs, and other mutual admiration societies, where "beautiful" essays and "lovely" verses are read for the delectation of a select audience of admiring friends. Thus prepared, I began my literary apprenticeship of which these Confessions tell the history. Eugene L. Didier. I THE SCENES OF MRS. HUMPHRY WARD'S NOVELS. T is only necessary to read the opening lines of David Grieve, Robert Elsmere, Marcella, or Helbeck of Bannisdale to realise something of the solicitude with which an author may approach the task of providing a soil preeminently fit for the development of seeds of character. In the case of Mrs. Humphry Ward solicitude merges into reverence; a reverence which never tires. In subsequent pages the soil is deliberately and skilfully tended, the germs are fostered and at the conclusion of the work a wonderful ripening has crowned the resultant growth. The places which Mrs. Ward has selected in England as a fitting background to her more striking figures fall naturally into two chief and two minor divisions. First in importance and in extent of area comes the Westmoreland district. Bounded, roughly, by Ullswater on the north; on the west by Rydal, Ambleside, and Cartmel Fell; on the east by Hawes Water and Long Sleddale, and running south through Kendal to Sizergh Hall and Levens, is an elongated tract of country in which are placed the scenes of Pobert Elsmere, Helbeck of Bannisdale, and the concluding portion of David Grieve. But the real David Grieve country is that "inaccessible district which marks the mountainous centre of midEngland-the district of Kinder Scout and the High Peak," where all around. stretches "the home of heather and plashing water, of grouse and peewit, of cloud and breeze." Continuing a line drawn between Ullswater and Kinder Scout athwart the map of England, it will cut through two places of interest in connection with Marcella and Robert Elsmere, viz., Hampden House, Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire, the chief original of Mellor Park, and its surroundings; and, further south, the district of Godalming, Milford, and Peper Harow, that "strange mixture of suburbanism and the desert" which is the Murewell of the Elsmere's Surrey. In mentioning with these the Crewe district of Sir George Tressady, the Manchester of David Grieve's youth and maturity, the London of Julie Le Breton, of Marcella, and of Elsmere, the Oxford of Edward Langham and the Cambridge of the Friedlands, almost the final name has been placed upon the list of localities in England, and it is necessary to turn to the Continent in order not to lose sight of the wondrous Italy of Eleanor, the Lake of Como episode in Lady Rose's Daughter, and the "storm and stress" period of David's Fontainebleau. The Westmoreland district may be subdivided into three, for it comprises centres in accordance with the books which treat of its scenery. Long Sleddale is the Long Whindale of Robert Elsmere, and near the head of the vale, where the outline of the steepening hills is broken and deflected by rocks and patches of plantation, is situated Burwood Farm, "the lonely house in the lonely valley" where Catherine Leyburn watched over her mother, brought up her sisters, and herself became "a sort of Deborah" of the Westmoreland Dales. Within sight of Burwood is the Vicarage of Long Whindale, the home at this time of Mr. Thornburgh, an incumbent of a later school than that of the period when "Ef ye'll nobbut send us a gude schulemeaster a verra' moderate parson 'ull dea!" was a characteristic Westmoreland saying. To this vicarage came Robert Elsmere, impelled by recent illness to visit his colleague and cousin, and destined to fall into the match-making hands of Mrs. Thornburgh in spite of the incredulous. remark, "a saint, a beauty, and a wit all to yourselves in these wilds!" with which he received her eulogies concerning the Leyburns. The wooing of Catherine ran a varying course among the bare tracts and lonely crags of the fells of this north country, accelerated by the rain-driven walk from Shanmoor, where Elsmere had discovered "enchanted soil" in the |