earnest friend of the measure), and even some eminent publishers, as Smith of Glasgow, Cadell of Edinburgh, and, I believe, all the lady writers, from Miss Martineau downwards or upwards. Will you just consider it, and let me know your feelings, which, first of all, ought by me, and by all other friends of the cause, to be regarded. If you choose to petition, I presume we might rely on Southey, and Moore, and for most others I could answer. As the prayer of the petitions would be, not for any individual benefit, but for a general measure of justice for all Authors and for all Time, I do not see any degradation in preferring them. All this, however, is matter for mature consideration; so we shall not make any general movement till Parliament meets, and then prepare to do it simultaneously, if at all. We have had a delightful holiday in Scotland. . . . Hoping you are enjoying that health so dear and so valuable to us all, -I remain, my dear Sir, ever most truly and gratefully yours, T. N. TALFOURD." T. N. Talfourd to Wordsworth. Sergeant's Inn, London, 24th January 1839. MY DEAR SIR,-As the session of Parliament is now rapidly approaching, and I propose as early as possible to move for leave to bring in the Bill to amend the law of copyright, I feel it right to trouble you with a statement of my plan, and with a request that you will afford me the assistance and the consolation of your advice, and, if you should deem the course suggested proper, that you would lend it your powerful aid. I propose, as I think I once before mentioned to you, to obtain petitions from the higher class of authors, each separately stating his own case, or so much of it as he may deem fit, stating whether his copyrights have been wholly or partially assigned, and any peculiar circumstances which may have rendered the extension of the term of copyright in his case peculiarly desirable and just. I wrote a letter on the subject yesterday to Mr. Southey; and, as the shortest mode of acquainting you with its purport, enclose a copy. If you should feel no objection to petition, I would suggest that you should state the works of which you are the author, what property in the copyright of each you retain, the long period during which the sale was limited to a small circle, by reason either of the high aim with which they were written, or the hostility of criticism, or such other ground as you may think fitting for statement on such an occasion, and the comparative recent extension of their sale, and the tardy commencement of the ordinary rewards of industrious genius. I should not use your petition, however much I should feel encouraged by it, unless I could back it by others not wholly unworthy to attend it; but these (so far as that character can be given to any contemporary authors) I have little doubt of obtaining. The petition should be written on parchment, should be headed 'To the Rt. Honble. the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled,' and should conclude with a prayer that the 'Hon. House will pass the Bill before it for the Amendment of the Law of Copyright.' If enclosed in a cover with Parliamentary Petition' inscribed on it, and addressed to me here, it will reach me in safety. In the belief that Mr. Robinson is with you, I enclose a note to him, but have left it unsealed that Mrs. Wordsworth and you may read it, if he should have left you, as it relates to a subject on which you and he are still interested, poor Miss Lamb. Mr. Robinson was strongly desirous that, during her illness, she should be removed from her present residence at Edmonton, to the protection of a sister of Miss Jones, who was ready to receive her; and the note, which is equally fit for your perusal, or for his, relates to the course I adopted, and the reason why, for the present, that purpose was suspended. -I remain, my dear Sir, ever truly and faithfully yours, T. N. TALFOURD." T. N. Talfourd to Wordsworth. "Sergeant's Inn, 4th February 1839. MY DEAR SIR,-I returned the draft of your petition without feeling any inclination to make the slightest change in it. As, however, anything which comes from your pen must have the greatest weight, I should be happy to see inserted in it two paragraphs embodying the views you say you would have liked to touch on: that the measure would affect comparatively few works, and those precisely the works which deserve and require its aid—and that the increasing number of readers will necessarily prevent any advance in the price of books. Either with or without these additions, I shall be happy to receive the Petition at your earliest convenience. . . .—I remain, my dear Sir, most truly and respectfully yours, T. N. TALFOURD." T. N. Talfourd to Wordsworth. Sergeant's Inn, 10th July 1839. MY DEAR SIR,-You might well ask, in the few lines I had the pleasure to receive from you the other day, 'What has become of the poor Copyright Bill?' Then I should have replied, It is put down in the order book night after night, with the assurance of the Government that they will assist in bringing it on. Now I have to inform you that the state of suspense is over, and that it is postponed to next session. Notwithstanding repeated promises from Lord John Russell, and three Thursday evenings fixed when it was to have absolute precedence, it has never advanced a stage (not even a clause) since that disgraceful night when Warburton proved the infinite divisibility of matter on the body of the House of Commons. At last it became quite hopeless; and though I would have cheerfully sacrificed a portion of the circuit to any reasonable chance of carrying so great and good a measure, I could not afford to make the sacrifice without any such prospect; and we retired at two o'clock yesterday morning to renew our battle on the first day of the next session. I am now just starting for Oxford to begin my circuit. . . .—I remain, my dear Sir, ever gratefully and affectionately yours, T. N. TALFOURD." T. N. Talfourd to Wordsworth. "Russell Square, 18th August 1839. MY DEAR SIR, I cannot despatch the enclosed letter, which Mr. Moxon has sent to be franked, without an expression of earnest hope that you are enjoying health among your Mountains, and adding to the stores of the true and beautiful, which, whether they greatly benefit your own descendants or not, will be the inheritance of man for all time. As our efforts to obtain some portion of justice for the class of which you are the head have failed for this year, I now propose to publish in a little volume, got up in Moxon's best style-more for presents than for sale -my own speeches on the three chief occasions of debate-all the petitions for the Bill, except those which are the copies of each other-the names of all the petitioners—a little history of the Bill connecting the debates together a statement of the treatment of the Bill night after night during this session —and an essay showing the present state of the question, and replying to the objections recently suggested-closed by your two exquisite sonnets, which you gave me leave to publish, when I contemplated such a publication last year. I shall send a copy of this little book to every member who has ever voted in favour of the Bill, shortly before the commencement of next session; give notice of moving for leave to introduce the Bill on the first day-move and bring it in the second -and (Warburton permitting) endeavour to get it through committee before Easter;-then I think we must succeed, unless Lord Brougham defeats us in the Lords. The history of the Bill during the last session will be edifying and curious, but not very creditable either to the Government or the House of Commons. It stood for discussion on three-andtwenty nights, on all of which its principal promoters, Lord Mahon, Sir Robert Inglis, and myself, attended to the last; on four of these nights (after you left) it was promised precedence by Lord John Russell, who on every occasion broke his word, or shuffled out of keeping it; and, as if to show the injustice of preventing it from being discussed on Wednesday, it never once, after the fatal Wednesday when the infinite divisibility of members was tried by Warburton, came on to be discussed at all—until the further prosecution of the Bill was hopeless. I and my household hope to depart hence to-morrow morning for North Wales-where we have a cottage in a most lovely situation—the valley which runs from Dolgelly to Barmouth skirted by Cader Idris-whence Mrs. Talfourd and I propose to glance at Ireland, after we have settled the children, and possibly to cross to Scotland, and call on you on our return to Wales. ... With kind remembrances to Mrs. and Miss Wordsworth, your son and daughter,-I remain, my dear Sir, ever gratefully and truly yours, T. N. TALFOURD." T. N. Talfourd to Wordsworth. "Sergeant's Inn, 7th May 1840. MY DEAR SIR,-You will be sorry to know that I have very slender comfort in the prosecution of the Copyright Bill except the great one which arises from the honour of your association and sympathy, and the hope, however slender, of being able to serve writers who may imitate your high example. The second reading of the Bill was, as you no doubt recollect, carried before I went on circuit with a majority of two to one, under a threat from Mr. Warburton that he would oppose its committal by a motion to refer it to a Select Committee up |