n him, but--generally, however, with
one or two exceptions, who are invaluable to him in the way of
encouragement--'make hay' of him and his pretensions in the most
heartless style. If he produces a poem, it achieves immortality in the
sense of his 'never hearing the last of it;' it is the jest of the
family till they have all grown up. But this he can bear, because his
noble mind recognises its own greatness; he regards his jeering
brethren in the same light as the philosophic writer beholds 'the vapid
and irreflective reader.' When they tell him they 'can't make head or
tail of his blessed poetry,' he comforts himself with the reflection of
the great German (which he has read in a translation) that the clearest
handwriting cannot be read by twilight. It is when his literary talents
have received more or less recognition from the public at large, that
home criticism becomes so painful to him. His brethren are then boys no
longer, but parsons, lawyers, and doctors; and though they don't
venture to interfere with one-another as regards their individual
professions, they make no sort of scruple about interfering with _him_.
They write to him their unsolicited advice and strictures. This is the
parson's letter:

'MY DEAR DICK,

'I like your last book much better than the rest of them; but I don't
like your heroine. She strikes both Julia and myself [Julia is his
wife, who is acquainted with no literature but the cookery-book] as
rather namby-pamby. The descriptions, however, are charming; we both
recognised dear old Ramsgate at once. [The original of the locality
in the novel being Dieppe.] The plot is also excellent, though we
think we have some recollection of it elsewhere; but it must be so
difficult to hit upon anything original in these days. Thanks for
your kind remembrance of us at Christmas: the oysters were excellent.
We were sorry to see that ill-natured little notice in the _Scourge_.

'Yours affectionately,

'BOB.'

Jack the lawyer writes:

'DEAR DICK,

'You are really becoming ["Becoming?" he thinks _that_ becoming]
quite a great man: we could hardly get your last book from Mudie's,
though I suppose he takes very small quantities of copies, except
from really popular authors. Marion was charmed with your heroine
[Dick rather likes Marion; and doesn't think Jack treats her with the
consideration she deserves], and I have no doubt women in general
will admire h