Chapter C: R. Jackson, Athenæum, 2073, p. 82

The manufacture of Novels now occupies so many writers, and is a system that so deeply concerns the public, that we have devoted a large space to the above exposure: larger, in fact, than we wished; but fairness demanded that the whole or none of the controversy should be inserted.

LATHY (T. P.) Esq., _plagiarist_.

The Angler, a poem, in ten Cantos. With proper instructions in the Art, Rules to Choose Fishing Rods, Lines, Hooks, etc. 1819.

This poem is only a rifacimento of the Anglers’ Eight Dialogues
in verse, without acknowledgment; some copies are dated 1819,
with the following title, ‘The Angler, a Poem, in ten Cantos, by
Piscator.’

J.R.S.

See Westwood Bib. Piscatoria, 1861.

LAUDER (William) _literary forger_.

“Mr. Isaac D’Israeli, in his ‘Curiosities of Literature,’ has
remarked that some of the most sinister literary forgeries
in modern times have been perpetrated by Scotchmen, and he
instances Lauder and Bower--two of the _blackest_ sheep of the
world of letters. The disgraceful fraud of which the former
stands convicted, so unparalleled for its meanness, baseness,
and dishonesty, has justly condemned him to eternal infamy, and
rendered his name a by-word of contempt. To the credit of English
literature, it did not indeed long remain undiscovered, and it
may at least be said to have had one beneficial result--that
of placing the unwary on their guard against an unscrupulous
disputant, and of demonstrating the importance and necessity
of occasionally verifying a quotation and testing a doubtful
assertion.

“In 1747 he commenced his attack on the reputation of Milton in
various communications to the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ in which
the great poet was denounced as an unprincipled plagiarist.

“These papers having led to some controversy, and excited some
attention, Lauder was induced to collect them, and in 1750 he
republished them in a volume, entitled ‘An Essay on Milton’s Use
and Abuse of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost;’ with the motto
taken from Milton, “Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.”
The work is preceded by a characteristic advertisement from
Lauder, which states that “Gentlemen who are desirous of securing
their children from ill example, or are themselves disposed to
gain or retrieve the knowledge of the Latin tongue, may be waited
on at their own houses by the author of the following Essay,” an
announcement certainly calculated to convey the idea that the
“canny Scot” regarded his erudite performance as an excellent
mercantile speculation, and favorable medium of publicity. To
render the work more remarkable, the preface and postscript were
contributed by Dr. Samuel Johnson. Johnson contributed prefaces
and postscripts to works he had never read with the greatest
ease, as his collected works show.

“The authors from whom Lauder accused Milton of borrowing without
acknowledgment, were some of them all but unknown in what was
then called the learned world. Among them was Masenius, a Jesuit
of Cologne, Taubmann, a German, and Staphorstius, a learned
Dutchman. From these and other authors passages were quoted in
some of which there was a general resemblance, and in others a
close similarity to the most admired portions of ‘Paradise Lost.’

“But Lauder’s triumph was of short duration. The detection
of the imposition, and the chastisement of the impostor fell
into able hands. Upon its publication the work attracted the
attention of the Rev. John Douglas, afterwards Bishop of
Salisbury, whose jealous regard for the reputation of Milton,
induced him to investigate its contents. Confident of the great
poet’s integrity, and not content with Lauder’s assertions, he
proceeded, with considerable pains, to search for the passages
which had been quoted from Masenius, Staphorstius, Grotius,
and others. The result was most triumphant: in nearly every
instance he found that Lauder had tampered with the text, and
had impudently inserted several lines of a translation of the
‘Paradise Lost’ in Latin hexameters by William Hogg, and others
of his own manufacture. The detection was so complete that the
impostor had no alternative but confession. A full avowal of
the fraud was accordingly drawn up by Dr. Samuel Johnson, who
naturally enough considered his reputation somewhat involved in
the transaction, and after some demur signed by Lauder. Upon a
calm review of the whole circumstances of the case, we cannot,
however, absolve Johnson from all blame. That he was the dupe
of the impostor, and entirely innocent of the fraud, will be
readily admitted; but can it be said that he exercised a proper
discretion, in giving his sanction and support to a charge the
accuracy of which he had not taken the trouble to investigate?...

“After the appearance of Dr. Douglas’s reply the following
advertisement (which we quote as a literary curiosity in its way)
was inserted in the public newspapers by Lauder’s publishers:--

“White Hart in Paternoster Row, London, Nov. 28, 1750.

“Upon the publication of the Rev. Mr. Douglas’s Defence of
Milton, in answer to Lauder, we immediately sent to Lauder, and
insisted upon his clearing himself from the charge of forgery
which Dr. Douglas has brought against him, by producing the books
in question. _He has this day admitted the charge_, but with
great insensibility.

“We therefore disclaim all connexion with him, and shall for the
future sell his book ONLY as a masterpiece of fraud, which the
public may be supplied with at 1s. 6d., stitched.

“JOHN PAYNE.
“JOSEPH BOUQUET.”

For further particulars refer to the article quoted (Sharpe’s
Lond. Mag., 1849), to Allibone, to Lowndes by Bohn, Poule’s Index
to Periodical Lit., Notes and Queries, etc.

L. E., _init._ [Mrs. EDWARDS].

Dial of Meditation and Prayer. Lond., 1858.

L. E., _initialism_ [Hon. ELEANOR EDEN].

Easton and its Inhabitants; or, Sketches of Life in a Country Town. London, 1858.

LEIGH (Cousin) _pseud._ [ ].

The Co-Heiress of Willingham. London, 1854.

L. E. L., _initialism_ [LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON, afterwards MACLEAN].

The Improvisatrice, 1824. The Troubadour, 1825. The Golden Violet, 1827. The Venetian Bracelet, 1829. Romance and Reality, 1831. Fisher’s Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832. The Easter Gift, 1832. Francesca Carrara, 3 vols, 1834 and 1862. Poems from the English Bijou Almanack, 1835. A Birthday Tribute, 1837. Ethel Churchill, or The Two Brides, 1837, 3 vols. Flowers of Loveliness, 1838. All London.