MR. W. B. WOODGATE'S NOVEL, "TANDEM."
[To THE EDITOR OP THE SPECTATOR"] Six,—I thank you for your kindly notice of my novel, " Tandem," in the Spectator of June 29th. I ask leave to point out that the main incident of the plot (which you seem to think attains "a high degree of absurdity which in itself suffices to make a book somewhat entertaining ") is really & historical fact,—e.g., a young man holding certain public offices in a provincial borough, nearly twenty-five years ago, thus "died," and was duly "buried." After his "death" his finances disclosed unexpected irregularities. Later on certain
rumours prevailed. In consequence of them the Home Office authority for exhumation was quietly obtained. The ex- ternal coffin contained no corpse, but only rubbish ! I believe a warrant was then secretly issued for the gentleman's arrest, but he has never been arrested. Except that in adopting the episode for my novel I have made the financial embarrass- ments the result of misfortune, and not of crime (in order to retain the moral sympathy of my audience for the actor in this drama), I have, in this feature of the plot, only followed a history which obtained some notoriety in the early" seventies." Evidently your reviewer was not aware of this old scandal and mystery when he criticised me. If he had said that I could claim no great originality for the plot, he would have been nearer the truth. Please forgive my trespassing upon your space to record this vindication of the adage that "truth is often stranger than fiction."-1 am, Sir, &c.,
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