s--the calling of a squatter.'

Abandoning his ambition to rank with the wool-kings, he entered the
Civil Service as a police magistrate and gold-fields commissioner. In
these combined offices he spent twenty-five years, and, while continuing
a good public servant, contrived, like Anthony Trollope, to find time
for substantial work in literature. Though during a period of about
twenty years he contributed several stories and other literary matter to
the Sydney and Melbourne press, it was not until the publication of
_Robbery under Arms_, at London in 1889, that his work obtained due
recognition even in the colonies. Ten years earlier he had made an
unsuccessful bid for an English reputation by the publication of _Ups
and Downs_, the novel which, under the more attractive title of _The
Squatter's Dream_, reappeared in 1890 as a successor to the famous
bushranging story. That the spirited opening chapters of _Robbery under
Arms_ should have been thought lightly of by Australian editors when the
serial rights of the story were offered to them is somewhat astonishing.
The author has related how these chapters were successively rejected by
a number of the leading journals, including two of the best weeklies.

At length the manuscript was read by Mr. Hugh George, manager of the
_Sydney Morning Herald_ and the _Sydney Mail_, who promptly accepted it
for publication in the latter newspaper.

Boldrewood at this time (1880) was well known to the Australian press.
It must, however, be pointed out in justice to the editors, whom his
story failed to impress, that his previous work had revealed little of
the dramatic sense that contributed so materially to his success in
presenting the careers of his highwaymen. But it is less easy to see
why, when the full possibilities of the story had been realised, there
should have remained a second difficulty, that of securing a publisher
to issue it in book form. 'An Australian house,' the author has said,
'refused to undertake the risk;' and he adds, 'as a matter of fact I had
to publish it partly on my own account in England.' This proof of his
confidence in the attractions of the story has since been justified by
its complete success throughout the English-speaking world.

A writer with so much experience of Australia, and continuing to reside
in it, cannot be surprised if he is expected to take a large share of
responsibility for the fact that Australian fiction--the fiction
produced by