year. But it did nothing of the
sort. Ignored by the Press, it attracted the public. Letters concerning
it and its theories began to pour in from strangers in all parts of the
United Kingdom; and at the end of its twelvemonth's run in the
circulating libraries Mr. Bentley brought it out in one volume in his
'Favorite' series. Then it started off at full gallop--the 'great
majority' got at it, and, what is more, kept at it. It was 'pirated' in
America; chosen out and liberally paid for by Baron Tauchnitz for the
'Tauchnitz' series; translated into various languages on the Continent,
and became a topic of social discussion. A perfect ocean of
correspondence flowed in upon me from India, Africa, Australia, and
America, and at this very time I count through correspondence a host of
friends in all parts of the world whom I do not suppose I shall ever
see; friends who even carry their enthusiasm so far as to place their
houses at my disposal for a year or two years--and surely the force of
hospitality can no further go! With all these attentions, I began to
find out the advantage my practical publisher had given me in the
retaining of my copyright; my 'royalties' commenced, increased, and
accumulated with every quarter, and at the present moment continue still
to accumulate, so much so, that the 'Romance of Two Worlds' alone, apart
from all my other works, is the source of a very pleasant income. And I
have great satisfaction in knowing that its prolonged success is not due
to any influence save that which is contained within itself. It
certainly has not been helped on by the Press, for since I began my
career six years ago, I have never had a word of open encouragement or
kindness from any leading English critic. The only real 'reviews' I ever
received worthy of the name appeared in the _Spectator_ and the
_Literary World_. The first was on my book 'Ardath: The Story of a Dead
Self,' and in this the over-abundant praise in the beginning was all
smothered by the unmitigated abuse at the end. The second in the
_Literary World_ was eminently generous; it dealt with my last book,
'The Soul of Lilith.' So taken aback was I with surprise at receiving
an all-through kindly, as well as scholarly, criticism from any quarter
of the Press, that, though I knew nothing about the _Literary World_, I
wrote a letter of thanks to my unknown reviewer, begging the editor to
forward it in the right direction. He did so, and my generous critic
tu