" ONLY AN EARL."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE '`SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As, however merited may be the severity of your notice of my poor novel Only an Earl in general, there is one point ou which it seems to me calculated to mislead the public, I feel not the least doubt that, you will do me the justice and favour to give these few lines a place in your journal.
So far was I from improvizing an earthquake to serve the purpose of my story, that, contrary to the custom in works of fiction, I gave historical authority not alone for the time and place, but even for the incidents of the celebrated earthquake, of which I availed myself ; and I must confess that when writers, whose names I am not worthy to specify in such a matter, avail themselves of rebellions, plagues, volcanic eruptions, &c., for their stories, I cannot see why the incidents of a well and generally known earth- quake are, in themselves, more ridiculous as materials for a similar purpose, however differently handled. I admit, indeed, that it might have been better to have called my novel "The Last Days of Oppido," or some such name. As for the excuse of my living out of England, which you kindly offer for the typical error of maternal having been printed instead of paternal, I fear it will scarcely be accepted by an enlightened public, well aware that these two letters effect the same distinction in most of the living popularly cultivated European languages, that they do in English. Grateful for such corrections as I may hope to profit by, I am,
Previous page
