1827.] Canons of Criticism. 477 



a lawgiver and a sovereign, it is devilish hard, indeed, if writing a book 

 will not serve to make a man an author. The former old-fashion way of 

 studying first and writing afterwards, is like never entering the water till 

 you have learned to swim. 



It is not, however, to be imagined that the choice of subject is a matter 

 of indifference ; or that, because any body can write upon any subject, 

 therefore all subjects are good to write upon. There are subjects which no 

 skill could make vendible; whereas there are others which may be said to 

 sell themselves. A man of genius possesses the enviable faculty of divining 

 the vendible, and can tell at a glance whether or no the thing will do : 

 commoner intellects choose in the dark, and sometimes stumble on a good 

 thing; but the safer way is to follow in the beaten track. There is always 

 some reigning favourite with the town : sometimes it is a Scotch novel 

 sometimes a novel of real life : sometimes it is political economy, sometimes 

 autobiography, and sometimes a ghost story. Now it is corn, and now 

 -Catholics now negro slavery, and now the north pole. The commonest 

 numscull who can keep a good look out a-head, and descry what is doing 

 in the trade, may be always sure of agood subject : he is only to take care 

 that he is not in the rear of the fashion, and does not come to market the 

 day after the fair. At present, personality is all the vogue ; and the best 

 book is that which discloses most private anecdote. If, unfortunately, you 

 are afraid of being kicked or don't like the attornies or, worse still, if 

 you have nothing to tell worth knowing of any body of notoriety you have 

 nothing for it, but to lie and swagger to insinuate in all societies that 

 there never was such a scandal as the book about to appear that its 

 unknown author will be horse- whipped, and the publisher imprisoned for 

 libel ; &c. &c. &c. 



These remarks chiefly are applicable to the higher orders of genius. For 

 a thoroughly dull dog, there are but two rules that can be serviceable ; and 

 these are either to apply to the trade, and leave the whole matter to the 

 publisher ; or, if this cannot be done, to plunge at once into polemics. 

 Write what you please on sectarian theology, you will be sure of a limited 

 sale. Every sect has its followers, contented to purchase sanction for its 

 own doctrines, and abuse of all opposing churches. For the rest, the greater 

 the nonsense the more numerous the purchasers. Sed de his hactenus. 



Next to the subject, nothing merits more consideration than a title-page. 

 A good physiognomy, it has been remarked, is a letter of recommendation; 

 and a good title-page may be said to put a work in good countenance. It 

 is notorious that many books which have failed in the first publication, 

 have been successfully republished with a new title. Dr. Cheyney's popu- 

 lar essay fell still-born from the press, when it first appeared under the 

 untaking title of an " Essay on Sanity and Longevity." A title may be 

 promissory, allusive, plagiary, or simply taking. A promissory title is one 

 which affects at once to let you into the secret of the book : as, for exam- 

 ple, " Alraack's," " Crocktbrd House," ' The Guards," -the " Com- 

 plete Art of splitting Straws," the " Fisherman's Guide," or the like. 

 Whether the promise be fulfilled or no, is a matter of secondary import- 

 ance ; for the purchaser will not discover his disappointment till it is too 

 late. Like playhouse managers, publishers trade on the " no money to be 

 returned" principle : and a very good principle it is. As a general rule, the 

 obsolete lottery puff may be taken as a model, which, always terminating 

 in the merits of the current scheme, recommended itself to public notice 

 under the guise of the most attractive subject of the day. Upon this model, 



