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BOOKS FATAL TO THEIR AUTHORS

By P. H. Ditchfield




To The Memory Of John Walter, Esq., M.A., J.P., Of Bearwood, Berks, This
Volume Is Respectfully And Affectionately Dedicated.




PREFACE.

TO THE BOOK-LOVER.


_To record the woes of authors and to discourse_ de libris fatalibus
_seems deliberately to court the displeasure of that fickle mistress who
presides over the destinies of writers and their works. Fortune awaits
the aspiring scribe with many wiles, and oft treats him sorely. If she
enrich any, it is but to make them subject of her sport. If she raise
others, it is but to pleasure herself with their ruins. What she adorned
but yesterday is to-day her pastime, and if we now permit her to adorn
and crown us, we must to-morrow suffer her to crush and tear us to
pieces. To-day her sovereign power is limited: she can but let loose a
host of angry critics upon us; she can but scoff at us, take away our
literary reputation, and turn away the eyes of a public as fickle as
herself from our pages. Surely that were hard enough! Can Fortune pluck
a more galling dart from her quiver, and dip the point in more envenomed
bitterness? Yes, those whose hard lot is here recorded have suffered
more terrible wounds than these. They have lost liberty, and even life,
on account of their works. The cherished offspring of their brains have,
like unnatural children, turned against their parents, causing them to
be put to death._

_Fools many of them--nay, it is surprising how many of this illustrious
family have