4 MARCH 1871, Page 14

THE AUTHOR OF "MARY POWELL."

[TO TDB EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")

SIR,—I am requested to protest against an unauthorized assump- tion of a well-established nom de plume. Miss Manning has for- several years written as the popular "Author of Mary Powell," and it is with much surprise and concern that I now find that another lady, a Miss Selous, writing under the pseudonym of "Kay Spen," also calls herself Author of "Mary Powell." My business is simply to state, and to request you will give currency to the statement, that the writer known as "Kay Spen " is not the same with the author of "The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, after- wards Mistress Milton," " More's Household," &c.—I am, Sir, &c., 27 Paternoster Row, February 27, 1871. ARTHUR HALL.