MARK TWAIN AND BROWNING.
[TO THE EDITOR. OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sis,—Does it really matter whether or not Mark Twain was aware of the Johnson story (Boswell, Temple Edition, Vol. IV., a. 37) to which Mr. Bayne alludes in the Spectator of August 2nd ? It would be difficult to establish a claim of "origimility," even for Johnson, in this play of humour. l!istory shows that a "new " idea has often arisen in different minds without any direct communication between them, and, further, that no productive idea arises in any mind without an analogue and earlier preparation in countless other minds. The scrutiny of a claim to originality, in a strict use of the term, drives us back to the common nthid of man. Mind is a social product. Genius is "allied to madness" when it is self-centred and peculiar.—I am, Sir, &e., T. F. Husseism. National Liberal Club, Victoria Street, S.W. 2.
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