"POSTE RESTANTE."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THN "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Amongst several reviews which were forwarded to me by my publishers, Messrs. Black, 1 find one which appeared in the Spectator some little time ago, upon a book which I had written, entitled "Poste Restante." Now, while quite admitting that your reviewer has a perfect right to his own opinion, and also, if he chooses, to air it in the paper, I must in justice to myself protest when he makes statements which are absolutely untrue and show that he wrote his review with- out troubling to read the book except superficially. He accuses me of building a story upon an absolutely im- probable foundation, and in the course of his remarks makes this statement, "Two Englishmen of the same name, similar in personal appearance, though unrelated and unknown to each other." I protest against such slap-dash remarks. I built the story upon no such improbable foundation. On the contrary, the two men were closely related. Authors have a great many and just complaints to make against reviewers, and not the least of them, on the careless manner of reviewing, and also the sweeping, often foundationless, assertions which are made against the plot of the story or the characters in it.—I am, Sir, &c., March 18th. C. Y. HARGREAVES.
[Mr. Hargreaves has just one ground for complaint against our reviewer, and for his single slip apologies are frankly tendered. The omission of the word " apparently " before the clause italicised in Mr. Hargreave's letter was unfor- tunate; because, as he points out, the relationship is dis- closed in the course of the story. But Mr. Hargreaves and readers of "Poste Restante" will see that the correction hardly weakens our charge of improbability. Indeed, it adds another item to the list of coincidences on which that charge was based. Still, we regret a blunder which must have been caused by careless proof-reading.--En. Spectator.]
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