unadulterated copy of the finest biographical work in the world
would have been as scarce as the first edition of Camden's
Britannia.

These are strong cases. I have shown you that, if the law had
been what you are now going to make it, the finest prose work of
fiction in the language, the finest biographical work in the
language, would very probably have been suppressed. But I have
stated my case weakly. The books which I have mentioned are
singularly inoffensive books, books not touching on any of those
questions which drive even wise men beyond the bounds of wisdom.
There are books of a very different kind, books which are the
rallying points of great political and religious parties. What
is likely to happen if the copyright of one of the these books
should by descent or transfer come into the possession of some
hostile zealot? I will take a single instance. It is only fifty
years since John Wesley died; and all his works, if the law had
been what my honourable and learned friend wishes to make it,
would now have been the property of some person or other. The
sect founded by Wesley is the most numerous, the wealthiest, the
most powerful, the most zealous of sects. In every parliamentary
election it is a matter of the greatest importance to obtain the
support of the Wesleyan Methodists. Their numerical strength is
reckoned by hundreds of thousands. They hold the memory of their
founder in the greatest reverence; and not without reason, for he
was unquestionably a great and a good man. To his authority they
constantly appeal. His works are in their eyes of the highest
value. His doctrinal writings they regard as containing the best
system of theology ever deduced from Scripture. His journals,
interesting even to the common reader, are peculiarly interesting