Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

the merchant must supply it, as he will supply saddlesand pale ale for Bombay or Calcutta.But as surely as the cadet drinks too much pale ale,it will disagree with him; and so surely, dear youth,will too much novels cloy on thee. I wonder, do novelwritersthemselves read many novels? If you go intoGunter’s, you don’t see those charming young ladies(to whom I present my most respectful compliments)eating tarts and ices, but at the proper eventide theyhave good plain wholesome tea and bread-and-butter.Can anybody tell me does the author of the “Tale ofTwo Cities” read novels? does the author of the “Towerof London” devour romances? does the dashing “HarryLorrequer” delight in “Plain or Ringlets” or “Sponge’sSporting Tour?” Does the veteran, from whose flowingpen we had the books which delighted our young days,“Darnley,” and “Richelieu,” and “Delorme,”* relish theworks of Alexandre the Great, and thrill over the “Three* By the way, what a strange fate is that which befell the veterannovelist! He was appointed her Majesty’s Consul-Generalin Venice, the only city in Europe where the famous “TwoCavaliers” cannot by any possibility be seen riding together.Roundabout Papers10Musqueteers?” Does the accomplished author of the“Caxtons” read the other tales in Blackwood? (For example,that ghost-story printed last August, and whichfor my part, though I read it in the public readingroomat the “Pavilion Hotel” at Folkestone, I protestfrightened me so that I scarce dared look over my shoulder.)Does “Uncle Tom” admire “Adam Bede;” and doesthe author of the “Vicar of Wrexhill” laugh over the“Warden” and the “The Three Clerks?” Dear youth ofingenuous countenance and ingenuous pudor! I makeno doubt that the eminent parties above named allpartake of novels in moderation—eat jellies—butmainly nourish themselves upon wholesome roast andboiled.Here, dear youth aforesaid! our Cornhill Magazine ownersstrive to provide thee with facts as well as fiction;and though it does not become them to brag of theirOrdinary, at least they invite thee to a table where thoushalt sit in good company. That story of the “Fox”**was written by one of the gallant seamen who sought** “The Search for Sir John Franklin. (From the Private Journalof an Officer of the ‘Fox.’)”