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TIIE ART AND MYSTERY OF FASHIONABLE 

 NOVEL WRITING. 



IN former days, a strange opinion was held by many good writers, 

 that study and perseverance were essential to the character of an 

 author. A Pythagorean silence was enjoined upon the unpractised 

 pen, and it was even declared by a Roman gentleman, whose vers de 

 societe are still read, that no work should be publicly born, until it 

 was nine years old. Modern times have become less scrupulous on 

 this point. The scale of merit has been graduated with greater nicety, 

 and the time bestowed upon any composition, is proportioned to its 

 intended or probable durability. The architect of the present day, 

 knows how to raise a building which shall exactly last a certain num- 

 ber of years, and the fashionable novel writer follows a similar plan 

 in building his stories. 



It is a notion to be rejected, that invention must necessarily lay 

 the foundation-stone and ingenuity raise the superstructure. Such 

 birds as are unable to make nests for themselves, repair the vacant 

 dwellings of their predecessors. In the same manner, a young no- 

 velist had better adopt a successful plot of forgotten date, than trouble 

 himself unnecessarily with the formation of a new one. A good plot 

 is like a model-doll ; you may dress it in any style, and disguise it 

 with any ornaments you think proper. 



If the adventurous tyro disdain an obligation to a compeer or a 

 superior, he will not find it quite impossible to do the needful him- 

 self. An artless confession was once made by a dramatist of some 

 merit, that he often sat down to write a comedy without any precon- 

 ceived notions of its design, and that he went on writing and writ- 

 ing, till the plot obtruded itself upon his notice. The ill-natured 

 critic may doubt whether this acknowledgment had not been rendered 

 unnecessary by the very writings in question; but the prudent 

 novice may take advantage of the hint. 



The first volume may easily be filled with appropriate descrip- 

 tions, genealogies, and the requisite preparations for mystification. 

 In the second, difficulties and mysteries must occur, and whatever 

 happiness presumed to peep forth in the first, must gradually be 

 converted into misery. Vice should be active, and virtue wan and 

 wavering. The third volume must, of course, untie the knots, 

 smooth the wrinkles ; hang, or otherwise dispose of the wicked, and 

 reward the good. 



In the course of your story you will find it of great advantage to 

 introduce political matters ; to expose what you consider (whether 

 rightly or not, signifies little,) electioneering intrigues ; and to hint 

 at a private acquaintance with cabinet concerns. By so doing, you 

 will, in all probability, be looked upon as a present or ex-member of 

 parliament, or a future candidate, or perhaps as the talented partizan 

 of some less talented politician. You will be considered identical 

 with the hero of the tale, and have the satisfaction of hearing that 



