20 AUTHENTICITY OF ANECDOTES 



were literary hacks or compilers, probably unwilling, if not 

 also unable, in the haate of writing what are vulgarly known 

 as * pot-boiler ' books or articles, to observe for themselves, 

 or even to collect information at first hand. Such penny-a- 

 liners were as likely as not to take their material from for- 

 gotten, oldish works, whether such works were of repute or 

 not being a consideration of no moment, and to serve up 

 in some new, ad captandum form hackneyed stories of a 

 sensational kind to meet the public demand for what is 

 called ' popular science.' 



Like the famous razors of the razor-grinder, that were 

 made to sell and not to shave, or the equally celebrated 

 wooden nutmegs of the Yankee pedlar, that were intended 

 to captivate and deceive the eye, not to gratify the palate 

 the anecdotes of this class of penny-a-liners are ' got up ' 

 merely to suit the wants and pander to the ignorance of 

 a non-discriminating market. 



It seems to me desirable to indicate some of the results 

 of my own enquiries as to the authenticity of anecdotes. 

 The writer of the description of a certain ' talking bird ' (a 

 grey parrot) in Chambers's Journal ' * thinks it necessary 

 to preface the account of his * interviewing ' of the animal 

 for journalistic purposes with the following explanatory re- 

 marks : ' A bird so very remarkable for its powers of speech 

 is about to be described, that it will be well to premise that 

 the sketch to be offered is perfectly true, not the least a 

 fiction.' 



In order to give the reader opportunity of judging for 

 himself as to the existence of the ' parrot and the reality of 

 its wonderful mental feats, the author of the article pub- 

 lished the name and address of the owner of the animal a 

 well-known photographer in Edinburgh, in whose town or 

 country abode it may probably still be seen. 2 *I am 

 grateful,' says the author, 'for his [the photographer's] 

 kindness in authorising me to make this statement, 

 because it will save me from being suspected of inventing 



1 For October 31, 1874. 



Since this was written I have heard of its death, in November 1876. 



