aps, or even of literary appreciations, so long as it is
untainted by erudition; he is not averse to publishing a volume of mild
lyrics, or a piece of simple fiction, just to show how easy it is, and
what he could do, if only, as Charles Lamb said, he had the mind. It
adds a pleasant touch of charming originality to a great lady if she
can bring out a little book. Such compositions are indubitably books;
they generally have a title-page, an emotional dedication, an
ultra-modest preface, followed by a certain number of pages of
undeniable print. It is common enough too, at a big dinner-party, to
meet three or four people, without the least professional dinginess,
who have written books. Mr. Winston Churchill said the other day, with
much humour, that he could not reckon himself a professional author
because he had only written five books--the same number as Moses.* And
I am far from decrying the pleasant labours of these amateurs. The
writing of such books as I have described has been a real amusement to
the author, not entailing any particular strain; the sweet pride of
authorship enlarges one's sympathies, and gives an agreeable glow to
life. No inconvenient rivalry results. The little volumes just flutter
into the sunshine, like gauzy flies from some tiny cocoon, and spread
their slender wings very gracefully in the sun.

* This sentence was, of course, written before the publication by Mr.
Churchill of the Life of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill.

I would not, then, like some austere critics, forbid such leisurely
writers as I have described to indulge in the pleasant diversion of
writing books. There are reviewers who think it a sacred duty to hunt
and chase these amiable and well-meaning amateurs out of the field, as
though they had trespassed upon some sacred enclosure. I do not think
that it is necessary or even kind to do this. I would rather regard
literature as a kind of Tom Tiddler's ground, where there is gold as
well as silver to be picked up. Amateurs tend, it is true, rather to
scatter gold and silver in the field of literature than to acquire it;
and I had just as soon, after all, that they should lavish their
superfluous wealth there, to be picked up by honest publishers, as that
they should lavish it in other regions of unnecessary expenditure. It
is not a crime, when all is said, to write or even to print an inferior
book; I would indeed go further, and say that writing in any shape is
at wor