to express to
him my confident hope, that the proposed plan, or some modification of it
by a committee (when one shall exist) may in due time be carried out. But
there seems to be no reason for haste; and in the formation of such body it
is desirable to have as many avowed supporters to select from as possible.
I do not think that the matter is much known yet, though I have to thank
you for a kind notice; and I need not tell some of your correspondents that
I have received very encouraging letters. But, in truth, as I did not
expect any profit, or desire any responsibility as to either money or
management, and only wished to lay before the public an idea which had
existed in my own mind for some years, and which had obtained the sanction
of some whom I thought competent judges; and as I had, moreover, published
pamphlets enough to know that a contribution of waste paper to any object
is often one of the most costly, I did not feel myself called on to go to
so much expense in advertising as I perhaps might have done if I had been
spending the money of a society instead of my own. I sent but few copies;
none, I believe, except to persons with whom I had some acquaintance, and
whom I thought likely to take more or less interest in the subject.

I trust, however, that the matter is quietly and solidly growing; and from
communications which I have received, and resources on which I believe I
may reckon, I feel no doubt that if it were considered desirable, friends
and money enough to set such a society going might be immediately brought
forward. It is one advantage of the proposed plan, that it may be tried on
almost any scale. A society so constituted would NOT begin its existence
{481} with great promises of returns to subscribers, and heavy engagements
to printers, papermakers, and editors. Its only _necessary_ expenses would
be those of _management_; and if the society were very small, these
expenses would be so too. It is, indeed, hardly possible to imagine that
they should be such as not to leave something to be funded for future use,
if they did not furnish means for immediate display; but it seems better to
wait patiently until such real substantial support is guaranteed as may
prevent all apprehension on that score.

S.R. MAITLAND.

* * * * *

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.

(Vol. ii., p. 442.)

It is quite startling to be told that the title of "Defender of the Faith"
was used by any r