Author. Well, you have read my N.S., tell me frankly what you think of it.

Publisher. It is excellent, full of interest of the highest order; the historic incidents are most graphically described. I have read few works which show deeper research and a higher appreciation of the stirring events of the period you describe; to me it seems admirable. A. I am delighted to hear this, and with your name on the titlepage, it will be a success.

P. Excuse me, I have only given you my opinion of the book; I did not say that I would publish it.

A. What do you mean?

P. I mean that my opinion is quantum sufficit, just what it is worth as an individual opinion; as a publisher I have to consider the public taste, and I fear a work like yours would have little chance of success. There are two styles of

VOL. CXLVII.-NO. DCCCXCI.

literature which are popular just now: with the public anything connected with mental process of thought, of involution, evolution, metaphysical, analytical disquisitions, all

the subtleties and mysteries of science, the more unintelligible the better; or it must be a startling novel, a nineteenth century Mrs. Radcliffe style, the shilling thrilling volume of sensational incidents, worked up by the pen of a ready writer, the mystery of a Hansom Cab,-this is what succeeds; but a work of culture and thought, men and women either have no time to read, or at any rate no time to appreciate. I am sure we should not dispose of a hundred copies of your book.

A. That's not encouraging, but I agree with you. Literature in its high and elevated sense is quite neglected; people seem to have, as you say, no time for reflection, only