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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76806 ***
+
+
+                           Transcriber’s Note
+
+Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ in this transcription. Small
+capitals text is displayed as ALLCAPS.
+
+             
+
+
+
+
+                                  THE
+                            LAW OF COPYRIGHT
+
+
+
+
+                                THE LAW
+
+                                   OF
+
+                               COPYRIGHT
+
+
+                                   BY
+                           William Wordsworth
+
+
+                                 LONDON
+                    PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
+                                  1916
+
+
+
+
+         =====================================================
+                            PREFATORY NOTE.
+         =====================================================
+
+
+The Copyright Act referred to by Wordsworth in the following document
+was presented to the House of Commons for the first time on _April
+18th, 1838_, the day upon which the poet addressed his open letter to
+Serjeant Talfourd.
+
+The letter appeared in _The Morning Post_ of _April 23rd, 1838_, and
+had apparently escaped all notice until I chanced upon it recently when
+searching a file of the paper for any stray writing of Wordsworth’s.[1]
+Prefixed to the text of the letter was the following editorial comment:—
+
+  “_We feel very sincere pleasure in having been selected as the medium
+  for giving to the public Mr. Wordsworth’s sentiments concerning
+  Serjeant Talfourd’s proposed Bill for the amendment of the law of
+  copyright. It is a source of additional gratification to us that
+  the opinions of such a man as Mr. Wordsworth are so completely
+  in accordance with those we have already on several occasions
+  endeavoured to impress on the attention of our readers._”
+
+When he applied himself to the composition of the present letter,
+Wordsworth was for the second time employing his pen in support of
+Talfourd’s Bill. An earlier letter, dated _April 12th, 1838_, addressed
+to the Editor of _The Kendal Mercury_, had appeared in the columns of
+that paper on _April 16th, 1838_, over the pseudonymous initials “A.
+B.” This earlier letter is already well known, and is included in the
+_Prose Works of William Wordsworth_, edited by William Knight, 1896,
+Vol. ii, pp. 375–382. Its successor, now rescued from its obscurity in
+a dusty file of an old newspaper, should henceforth find a place beside
+it.
+
+                                                          T. J. W.
+
+
+_25, Heath Drive,_
+      _Hampstead, N.W._
+
+
+——————————
+[1] In view of the number of contributions made by Wordsworth to _The
+Morning Post_ (among which _The Convict_, which brightened its pages
+on December 14th, 1797, is by far the most important) it is curious to
+recall the following statement which occurs in a letter addressed by
+him to Daniel Stuart:—
+
+  “_I am quite certain that nothing of mine ever appeared in ‘The
+  Morning Post,’ except a very, very few sonnets upon political
+  subjects, and one poem called ‘The Farmer of Tilsbury Vale,’ but
+  whether this appeared in ‘The Morning Post’ or ‘The Courier,’ I do
+  not remember._” [The poem cited did appear in _The Morning
+  Post_ on July 21st, 1800.]
+
+
+
+
+         =====================================================
+                         THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT.
+         =====================================================
+
+
+                                               RYDAL MOUNT,
+                                                  _April 18th, 1838_.
+
+MY DEAR SIR,
+
+A strong opposition, which has manifested itself by public meetings and
+petitions to the House of Commons, having started up among printers,
+publishers, and others to your Bill for amending the law of copyrights,
+and no other like counter-movement being made by authors on their part,
+it has been suggested to me, from quarters entitled to great respect,
+that it might be of service if, along with a most distinguished
+literary friend, I should present a petition to Parliament, praying
+that the Bill may pass, or at least one in favour of its principle.
+This compliment has no doubt been paid me as one among the oldest
+of living writers, and one therefore whose heirs must, in course of
+nature, be injured sooner than those of younger men, if the proposed
+measure be rejected. You will not be surprised if I feel some scruple
+in taking a step, though so well recommended, on account of an aversion
+to appear prominently in any public question, and because I am loth
+to think so unfavourably of Parliament as to deem that it requires
+petitions from authors as a ground for granting them a privilege, the
+justice of which is so obvious. I cannot bring myself to suppose
+that the mere shadows of argument advanced by printers and publishers
+against the claims of a class to whom they owe the respectability
+of their condition, if not their very existence, should avail with
+any intelligent and disinterested assembly. Yet further am I averse
+thus to petition Parliament, because I would not ask as an individual
+suppliant, or with a single associate, what in equity I consider to be
+the _right_ of a class, and for a much longer period than that defined
+in your Bill—for ever. Such right, as you have stated in your admirable
+speech, was acknowledged by the common law of England; and let them who
+have cried out so loudly against the extension of the term as is now
+proposed show cause why that original right should not be restored. The
+onus clearly rests with them to do so; but they have not attempted it,
+and are glad to take shelter under the statute law as it now stands,
+which is a composition or compromise between two opinions; the extreme
+point of one being, that, by giving his thoughts to the world, an
+author abandons all right to consider the vehicle as private property;
+and of the other, that he has the right in perpetuity, that descends to
+his heirs, and is transferable to those to whom he or they may assign
+it.
+
+This right I hold to be more deeply inherent in that species of
+property than in any other, though I am aware that many persons,
+perceiving wherein it differs from acquisitions made in trade and
+commerce, &c., have contended that the law in respect to literature
+ought to remain upon the same footing as that which regards the profits
+of mechanical inventions and chemical discoveries; but that this is an
+utter fallacy might easily be proved.
+
+From the considerations above stated I decline to petition, as
+suggested, and content myself, in the silence of others better entitled
+to speak, with this public declaration of my judgment, so that at
+least, my dear Sir, you may not be liable to be treated as a volunteer
+intruding without wish or sanction openly expressed by any one of
+the class whose rights and interests you have so much to your honour
+stepped forward to maintain. Here this letter shall close, its purpose
+being answered, for no general arguments from me, and no statement of
+facts belonging to my own case, and which have come to my knowledge
+with respect to my illustrious friends Coleridge, Scott, Southey, and
+others, would avail to produce conviction where that has not been
+effected by your unrivalled speech made upon your first introduction
+of the Bill into the House of Commons, and by reasonings which have
+lately been set forth with great ability by writers in the public
+journals, who were more at liberty to enter into details than you could
+be while treating the subject before Parliament.
+
+Should your Bill be overborne, which I cannot allow myself to fear, by
+the interested opposition now at work, justice, nevertheless, sooner or
+later, must triumph; and at all events the respect and gratitude which
+authors feel towards you and your coadjutors upon this occasion will be
+cherished by them to the last hour of their lives.
+
+                                 I have the honour to be,
+                                      My dear Sir,
+                                            Faithfully yours,
+
+                                               WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+    _To_
+SERJEANT TALFOURD, M.P.
+
+
+
+
+                                LONDON:
+              Printed for THOMAS J. WISE, Hampstead, N.W.
+
+                  _Edition limited to Thirty Copies._
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76806 ***