ll says Yes; and that is
a thing out of all conscience. Only look here.

[_Displays a long bill._

_B._ Why, I must acknowledge, Ansard, that there is some excuse. One
needs must, when the devil drives; but you are capable of better things.

_A._ I certainly don't feel great capability in this instance. But what
can I do? The man will have nothing else--he says the public will read
nothing else.

_B._ That is to say, that because one talented author astonished the
public by style and merits peculiarly his own, and established, as it
were, a school for neophites, his popularity is to be injured by
contemptible imitators. It is sufficient to drive a man mad, to find
that the tinsel of others, if to be purchased more cheaply, is to be
pawned upon the public instead of his gold; and more annoying still,
that the majority of the public cannot appreciate the difference between
the metal and the alloy. Do you know, Ansard, that by getting up this
work, you really injure the popularity of a man of great talent?

_A._ Will he pay my tailor's bill?

_B._ No; I daresay he has enough to do to pay his own. What does your
tailor say?

_A._ He is a staunch reformer, and on March the 1st he declares that he
will have the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill--carried to
my credit. Mr C., on the 10th of February, also expects the novel, the
whole novel, and nothing but the novel, and that must be a fashionable
novel. Look here, Barnstaple. (_Shows his tailor's bill._)

_B._ I see how it is. He "pays your poverty, and not your will."

_A._ And, by your leave, I thus must pay my bill (_bowing._)

_B._ Well, well, I can help you: nothing more difficult than to write a
good novel, and nothing more easy than to write a bad one. If I were not
above the temptation, I could pen you a dozen of the latter every
ordinary year, and thirteen, perhaps, in the bissextile. So banish that
Christmas cloud from your brow; leave off nibbling your pen at the wrong
end, and clap a fresh nib to the right one. I have an hour to spare.

_A._ I thank you: that spare hour of yours may save me many a spare day.
I'm all attention--proceed.

_B._ The first point to be considered is the _tempus_, or time; the next
the _locus_, or place; and lastly, the _dramatis personae_; and thus,
chapter upon chapter, will you build a novel.

_A._ Build!

_B._ Yes, build; you have had your dimensions given, the interior is
left to your own decoration.