No. 11. "Therefore as a STRANGER, bid it welcome." SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1813. HAMLET. VOL. I. [In justice to Messrs. WHITING & WATSON, we insert the following communication.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE STRANGER. OUR name having been treated in a manner, though in some respects flattering, yet in others, not much to our mind, in your Nos. 3 and 6, we request a place for a few observations, in reply. With respect to Clarke's travels, we fully admit the justness of the censures passed upon the execution of the mechanical part of that publication: they are far short of what it deserves, and of what we have ourselves bestowed upon it. We say of what we have ourselves bestowed upon it, because it is pretty generally known to the publick that it was not printed under our direction, nor for our account, but for account of the printer himself, Thos. C. Fay; of whom we bought it after it was, as we supposed, completed. "It is execrable :-it is a disgrace to the trade" in all respects. It was not without great trouble, delay and difficulty that we could get Mr. Fay to publish any of the appendices at all; nor could we induce him to put a single one of them into the 12mo. edition. To our regret we permitted it to go out in our name, according to universal custom in similar cases ;not apprehending that it was so shamefully printed as we afterwards discovered it to be. We acknowledge you were not bound to know these circumstances, nor to take notice of any thing beyond what the title page furnished: We admit the justness of the charges; and offer these facts in justification. The mutilation of books in the republication, is perhaps the ve ry worst of the many misdemeanors which are chargeable against publishers at the present day and we entirely coincide with you in the sentiments you express in relation to it. But having said this, we must be allowed to add, that if ever there was an instance which justified a departure from the very proper rule you have laid down on this subject, it is that of the omission of Turkish and Arabic SALE CATALOGUES of Seraglio Tales and Arabian Knights' Entertainments. The strictures of your Correspondent relative to our Edition of THE NEW EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPEDIA are of much deeper interest to us. The charge of moral delinquency, in no equivocal terms, is of too serious a nature to be past over without notice. We do not suppose that your correspondent means deliberately to accuse us of intentionally practising an imposition on the public. But there the words stand; and we must take them at their import and so will others. We are fully aware of the fact at which he glances, as a sort of excuse for us ;--that men, with what are called the most honest intentions, will often indulge in certain actions, to which custom has given a sanction, which otherwise they would clearly perceive to be immoral. But for ourselves we do not mean to ask for any such justification of our actions. : We are charged with having "palmed upon the publick as a second EDITION, what is nothing more than AN EXTENSION OF THE FIRST." To make out this charge, a construction is put upon the term edition, which neither etymology nor common acceptation will bear out. The term is taken from the verbwhich, in its primitive sense, means to put forth, to utter; theṣe are synonymous with the terms in common use-to publish. An edition, therefore, is the quantity published in any one parcel. The common acceptation of the term is of the very same import. Accordingly its general use is to show the extent of the demand for any work, by exhibiting the number of impressions which the publick has called for. It is perhaps not hazarding too much to say that it never, standing alone, implies, as your correspondent assumes, "revisal." For whenever revision has been made, it is always specified :-as," such an edition, newly revised or corrected, &c." plainly indicating that without this addition the term edition would mean no such thing as revision. In this sense then our edition is in all respects a second edition; for it is wholly independent of the first. But over and above all this, in our prospectus (which you may be sure we spared no pains to make as publick as possible) we ex pressly state that our edition " will be published (beginning with the third volume) in all respects uniformly, as to paper, price, and time of delivery, with the first edition by PARKER & DELAPLAINE, and will be struck off from the very same types without addition or diminution.” We cannot permit your correspondent to say he had not seen our prospectus. It was his business to have seen it. When he undertakes to state that we have practised an imposition upon the public, shall he do it without even looking at the very document (a document never omitted by publishers in a work of any importance) which constitutes our engagements to the publick? Whoever charges another with moral defection must be well assured of his ground; lest he should be in the unhappy predicament of your correspondent, and find the charge recoil upon himself. For although the present instance is not to be considered as wilful misrepresentation, it cannot escape the stigma of careless misrepresentation. The result is in no way to be avoided. Any attempt at justification would be but a repetition of the crime. It would be a want of candour, and both are a violation of truth. Your correspondent, if he has any proper sense of justice, and means to respect its claims, must be conscious that he owes a full reparation for an injustice which, in a work of such magnitude, might seriously affect our interests, and actually now stands as an aspersion upon our reputation. We will place ourselves second to none in a just estimation of the importance, or in our ambition to promote, the respectability of the American press ;-to none in lamenting the present state of disgrace into which it has sunk ;-to none in cordial approbation of suitable measures for remedying the existing evils; and such measures we deem the severe castigation of delinquents, and the spirited remarks and high minded sentiments of THE STRANGER on the subject. For our own part, when we are inculpated, if unjustly, our publications themselves will refute the accusations brought against them: if justly, we hope we shall have the magnanimity to admit and to profit by them. But it is much to be desired that whoever shall take upon himself the high, the useful office of PUBLICK CENSOR, may look well to that essential which alone stamps the value upon publick chastisement-TO BE IN THE RIGHT. WHITING & WATSON. October 27, 1813. [The following piece, containing strictures on the paper signed, A Bachelor, which appeared in No. 10, was found in the letter box. There can be no apology necessary for the insertion of it.] FOR THE STRANGER. Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis Offendar maculis. HOR. It is said that some Indians worship an evil spirit, to appease its wrath. This practice, though barbarous as it regards religion, is not uncommon in civilized life, respecting other matters. Thus the critick, that demon of the literary world, holds every scribbler in fear and trembling; and should there be any one who has the hardihood to laugh at his power, it can be a matter of no surprise if the rogue should smart for his temerity. I, Mr. Stranger, though but one of the humblest spirits of my master, the great censor of learning, who am appointed to superintend this part of his dominion, feel highly indignant at the affront offered him in your last by a Bachelor, a character which I have till now respected, if not for acuteness and sagacity, at least for cautious prudence. Before I point out the offences of this sinner, I cannot but mention my regret at the currency of the number which contains his production. Instead of being condemned by the ladies, as its predecessors have been, to perform the part of the curling tongs; they preserve it with care, and many I find, can say the greater part of it by rote. Neither is the popularity of this piece confined to the fair sex-the beau, who till now only admired the fineness of the paper and beauty of the type, fairly lolled away some moments in reading its contents. Suffer not, however, this burst of celebrity to induce you again to trespass, on propriety and good sense, by the insertion of a similar effusion; but confine yourself to solid remark and wholesome precept. A bubble, is admired by children for the beauty of its colours, but it soon vanishes, and is thought of no more. It is not my intention to say any thing of the sentiments of your crusty advocate of celibacy, who, by the way, I suspect, has been treated rather cavalierly by the ladies; but merely notice some of the errours which are the subject of my peculiar dislike. |