I would not, then, like some austere critics, forbid such leisurely
writers as I have described to indulge in the pleasant diversion of
writing books. There are reviewers who think it a sacred duty to
hunt and chase these amiable and well-meaning amateurs out of the
field, as though they had trespassed upon some sacred enclosure. I
do not think that it is necessary or even kind to do this. I would
rather regard literature as a kind of Tom Tiddler's ground, where
there is gold as well as silver to be picked up. Amateurs tend, it
is true, rather to scatter gold and silver in the field of
literature than to acquire it; and I had just as soon, after all,
that they should lavish their superfluous wealth there, to be
picked up by honest publishers, as that they should lavish it in
other regions of unnecessary expenditure. It is not a crime, when
all is said, to write or even to print an inferior book; I would
indeed go further, and say that writing in any shape is at worst a
harmless diversion; and I see no reason why people should be
discouraged from such diversion, any more than that they should be
discouraged from practising music, or making sketches in water-
colour, because they only attain a low standard of execution in
such pursuits. Indeed, I think that hours devoted to the production
of inferior literature, by persons of leisure, are quite as well
bestowed as hours spent in golfing and motoring; to engage in the
task of writing a book implies a certain sympathy with intellectual
things; and I am disposed to applaud and encourage anything which
increases intellectual appreciation in our country at the present
time. There is not too much of it abroad; and I care very little
how it is acquired, if only it is acquired. The only way in which
these amateurs can be tiresome is if they insist upon reading their
compositions aloud in a domestic circle, or if they request one to
read a published book and give them a candid opinion. I once stayed