564 The Riyhts of Dramatists. [MAY, 



A man who writes a poem, a history, a novel, in fact, anything but a 

 play, enjoys his right to the proceeds of his labour for twenty-eight 

 years. On the contrary, the dramatist enjoys no such right for twenty- 

 eight hours. The work of his brain is instantly torn from his possession j 

 he produces, and he is pillaged. The Hunchback a play made up of 

 the rarest qualities of literary genius, a production which has shed a golden 

 light on the cold and comfortless gloom of the modern theatre, a mental 

 achievement, that places its author in " the forehead of the times," that 

 will embalm his memory with the highest dramatic genius of England, 

 mighty and various as she is in that genius, the Hunchback, which has 

 acted as a dream, a talisman, on the intellect of this vast metropolis, 

 the Hunchback is no more protected by the British legislature than is the 

 meanest fern on the most public common. At the time we write, the 

 Hunchback is unpublished. No matter : it may be come at (a little 

 garbled, perhaps) by provincial managers, who may wish to obtain the 

 property of Mr. Knowles without his sanction, by due application to the 

 agency office at the corner of Bow-street. There the manuscripts, even 

 by this time, (we write four days after the production of the play,) are 

 doubtless ready for sale , or, it may be, already on their way by the mail 

 to their various points of destination.* The Hunchback, whilst yet 

 unpublished, is represented at country establishments j at Bath, for in- 

 stance. On this Mr. Knowles may remonstrate, when he shall receive an 

 impertinent answer from the manager of the above theatre, (for we have 

 seen such documents,) stating that the present law, or rather no law, of 

 dramatic copywright, was a very proper one : 



" Only complained of by pettifoggers and adapters, who wished to be secured in 

 their stolen goods." 



At the heels of this may tread an empty compliment on the production 

 of 



" An original play ; originality being to a lover of his art, like manna dropt in 

 the wilderness !" 



the writer, however, shewing his desire to feed on " originality" as he 

 would on " manna," that is, without paying a doit for his ordinary : he 

 would receive both as the gifts of Providence. Another letter from 

 Dublin may run as follows : 



" Sir, Before I received your letter, a copy of your drama was forwarded to me 

 from London, for which I have paid two pounds !"t 



Thus has the author of the Hunchback no remedy. If Mr. Knowles 

 would be assured the profits of his genius, he should invent a new cork- 

 screw, not write an exquisite play. We may see the protecting " patent" 

 on a tooth-brush 5 but where shall we look for it in a drama ? Tragedies, 

 like rabbits, may be bagged without a license. 



The present legal condition of the drama is a more fruitful cause of 

 injustice on the one hand, and risk and chicanery on the other, than in 

 any other branch of commerce. Subterfuge and falsehood are resorted to 



* On one occasion the " agent" applied to the dramatist himself, offering him a guinea 

 for a copy of his piece: this liberal overture being refused, the reply was u Oh ! no 

 matter, I can get it; but I thought I'd giveyou the chance." 



t We must, however, in justice state, that the Dublin letter may contain (for we ground 

 our supposition on the tenor of an original communication) a wish " that literary property 

 should be respected," with a hope " that a law might be passed to that effect." Dublin 

 has consideration for the despoiled : Bath has no bowels. 



