Thoughts of a Life - Time. By F. A. White, B.A. (Swan
Stamen- schein and Co.)—" At present, the annoyance undergone and time wasted by the poor hollow-oheeked, empty-bellied, footsore, heart- sick author in collecting the opinions of an insolent Press upon his magnum opus is simply cruel ; but the Government, now that it pub- lishes everything for everybody, would save him all this." Yea, that is the panacea for the evils of literature. " Let Government be the only publisher." " The accursed law of copyright once fairly abolished, little indeed will be left of oar much-vaunted literature. The humblest peasant's shelf will contain the best, and the humblest village library, he has access to, will embrace the whole of it." Here we get again " the hundred books." Mr. White does not give his full list, bat he gives a glimpse,—" The Vicar of Wakefield," " Robinson Crowe," " Tristram Shandy," " Sartor Resartus," and—" The Boys of Roby." Does a reader, his intellect debased by the action of the law of copyright, ask in his ignorance, " What is ' The Boys of Baby P' " Modesty does not forbid Mr. White to avow the authorship, or to give the publisher's name. If the right had been done, and an insolent Frees had been able to see merit, Mr. White would be now writing " K.L." after hie name. (" K.L.," it must be understood, stands for "Knight of the Laurel.") He has other realms to reform besides literature. In fact, he disapproves of most things that are, what he calls " boardingschoolthegotten gynecolatry " being among them, and reconetructs the world on a pattern of his own. It is not worth while to deal in detail with his speculations.
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