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LITERARY BYWAYS.




  Literary Byways


  By William Andrews


  LONDON:
  WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE, E.C.
  1898.




Preface.


In the following pages no attempt has been made to add to the many
critical works authors bring under the notice of the public. My aim in
this collection of leisure-hour studies is to afford entertaining reading
on some topics which do not generally attract the reader's attention.

It is necessary for me to state that three of the chapters were originally
contributed to the columns of the _Chambers's Journal_, and by courtesy of
the Editor are reproduced in this volume.

WILLIAM ANDREWS.

  THE HULL PRESS,
            _July 5th, 1898_.




Contents.


                                                                  PAGE

  AUTHORS AT WORK                                                    1

  THE EARNINGS OF AUTHORS                                           43

  DECLINED WITH THANKS                                              67

  EPIGRAMS ON AUTHORS                                               76

  POETICAL GRACES                                                   90

  POETRY ON PANES                                                   94

  ENGLISH FOLK-RHYMES                                              100

  THE POETRY OF TOAST LISTS AND MENU CARDS                         110

  TOASTS AND TOASTING                                              120

  CURIOUS AMERICAN OLD-TIME GLEANINGS                              131

  THE EARLIEST AMERICAN POETESS: ANNE BRADSTREET                   143

  A PLAYFUL POET: MISS CATHERINE FANSHAWE                          149

  A POPULAR SONG WRITER: MRS. JOHN HUNTER                          160

  A POET OF THE POOR: MARY PYPER                                   167

  THE POET OF THE FISHER-FOLK: MRS. SUSAN K. PHILLIPS              176

  A POET AND NOVELIST OF THE PEOPLE: THOMAS MILLER                 186

  THE COTTAGE COUNTESS                                             199

  THE COMPILER OF "OLD MOORE'S ALMANAC": HENRY ANDREWS             206

  JAMES NAYLER, THE MAD QUAKER, WHO CLAIMED TO BE THE MESSIAH      213

  A BIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCE: SWAN'S STRANGE STORY                     222

  SHORT LETTERS                                                    228

  INDEX                                                            237




LITERARY BYWAYS.




Authors at Work.


The interest of the public in those who write for its entertainment
naturally extends itself to their habits of life. All such habits, let it
be said at once, depend on individual peculiarities. One will write only
in the morning, another only at night, a third will be able to force
himself into effort only at intervals, and a fourth will, after the manner
of Anthony Trollope, be almost altogether independent of times and places.
The nearest approach to a rule was that which was formulated by a great
writer of the last generation, who said that morning should be employed in
the production of what De Quincey called "the literature of knowledge,"
and the evening in impassioned work, "the literature of power."

But habits, however unreasonable they may be, are ordinarily very powerful
with authors. One of the most renowned writers always attired himself in
evening dress before sitting down to his desk. The influence of his
attire, he said, gave dignity and restraint to his style. Another author,
of at least equal celebrity, could only write in dressing gown and
slippers. In order that he might make any progress, it was absolutely
essential that he should be unconscious of his clothes. Most authors
demand quiet and silence as the conditions of useful work. Carlyle padded
his room, in order that he might not be annoyed by the clatter of his
neighbours. On the other hand, Jean Paul Richter, whose influence is
visible throughout nearly the whole of Carlyle's writings, would work
serenely in the kitchen with his mother attending to her domestic duties,
and the children playing around him. In an article contributed by Carlyle
to the _Edinburgh Review_ on Richter, we get some interesting facts about
this truly great man. The following is reproduced from Doering. "Richter's
studying or sitting apartment, offered about this time (1793),[1] a true
and beautiful emblem of his simple and noble way of thought, which
comprehended at once the high and the low. Whilst his mother, who then
lived with him, busily pursued her household work, occupying herself about
stove and dresser, Jean Paul was sitting in a corner of the same