served some interesting birds, such as the accentor alpinus and pyrrhocorax alpinus, and succeeded in shooting a specimen of the beautiful tichodroma muraria, which clings to the rocks with its powerful claws, and, we are told, lays its eggs by preference in human skulls. Among the pinetops below we saw the nucifraga caryocatactes, half jay, half pie, which gives a warning cry to the animal kingdom on the approach of man. The only human inhabitant of these desolate wilds was a Vlach shepherd clad in sheepskins, who climbed the mountain from the Turkish side, and prostrated himself thrice to the earth before the Prince. It was evening before we regained the monastery, having been in the saddle some twelve hours.

Next morning when I left my cell and looked down from the gallery upon the grass-grown court, I was struck by a novel and interesting spectacle. The quadrangle was thronged with hundreds of peasants in their charming holiday attire, their brightly-colored costumes contrasting with the sombre robes of the monks and the white summer uniforms of the soldiers. Some were sitting grouped on the greensward, enjoying their morning meal; others were asleep beneath the fruit trees, fatigued by their long pilgrimage; others were standing in the alcoves of the church, gazing with wonder and admiration and awe at the pictured revelations of the wrath to come. A little crowd was asseinbled at a stall beneath the belfry, eagerly purchasing crosses and beads and pictures of saints. It was interesting to observe the tendency of the sexes to keep apart: the unmarried girls sat in rows on the steps beneath the arches, with gay ribbons and strings of coins in their hair, while the young men cast shy glances at them from a respectful distance. Fresh bands of pilgrims continued to arrive throughout the day, and before evening there were at least three thousand peasants at the monastery. After sunset a terrific thunderstorm broke over the valley; the lightning seemed to leap from crag to crag above our heads, and the thunder echoed grandly among the mountains on either hand. The peasants had crowded into the galleries, where they lay packed like sardines, most of them asleep and unconscious of the storm. It was after midnight when I was aroused by the sound of beating upon a semantron, or wooden

board, followed by the loud tolling of bells, and I went down into the count. The rain had ceased; the peasants were all astir, and many of them were already on their way to the church, at the door of which a monk sat at a table lighted by a dim candle. As the worshippers approached he inscribed in a book the names of such of them as gave offerings, it being understood that the names should be mentioned in the church services for a time proportionate to the magnitude of the gift. A little group was gathered around, as the peasants fumbled for their purses in the folds of their garments, or stood debating within themselves how much they should give-it was a conflict of interests spiritual and temporal-or bent their swarthy sunburned faces over the table as they eagerly watched for the inscription of their names. They had given of their penury, and they meant to have their reward.

The services continued through the small hours of the morning, and at nine o'clock Prince Ferdinand attended one of them, the peasants crowding densely to see their sovereign. Already many of the pilgrims had departed, making their way down the valley in a long picturesque train with their wagons and their oxen. The women were seated in the wagons, the men for the most part going on foot. I chanced to speak to one of the former, a sturdy country woman and a mother in Bulgaria, who had come hither with her two stout sons, aged twenty-one and eighteen respectively. It was her second visit to the monastery, she said; the first was before the birth of her firstborn, when she came to make her vows; and now that he was grown to man's estate she had coine again. She had brought an offering of twentyfive francs, and received in return a paper with some pictures of saints and a promise that her name should be mentioned in the prayers. Not much for her money, some may say; nevertheless the investment was a good one because it made her happy. So too with the others who left their hard-won savings here; they returned to their homes happier, and perhaps better, than before. Vain superstitions," says the Spirit of the nineteenth century. Yes, but what would life be without its superstitions? What would passion be without its romance, or faith without its mysteries, or hope without its illusions? And

why quarrel with a superstition which calls these children of toil from the furrow and the pasture to spend a boliday in this delightful spot, and gives them at least a landmark in the monotony of their lives? The time may come when men will believe only that which has been proved, the darkness of credulity may yield to the daybreak of reason; but the moonlight and the stars and the enchantment of the night will vanish as well in the cold dreary mist of the dawning.

I had intended to describe some other incidents of our stay at Rilo-among them a chamois hunt in the heights of Rhodope; but I have already exceeded

my limits. The general election was approaching, and it was time for the Prince to return to his capital. Our sojourn was brought to a close by a service in the church, and as we departed the Abbot and the monks attended the Prince to the gates of the monastery. It was with regret that we bade farewell to this charming retreat, where, amid scenes of exquisite beauty and associations suggestive of the past alone, we had lingered awhile in the still seclusion of medieval life, reinote from the turmoil of politics, the struggles and vulgar ambitions of to-day.-Fortnightly Review.

BEFORE Considering what effects are likely to follow from the United States Copyright Act now passed, we shall do well to have a clear notion of the legal rights of British and American authors as they will stand from July 1. The reader is begged, once for all, to remember that we have time to consider until that date. For the sake of shortness and convenience I shall henceforth speak of the provisions of the American Act as if they were already in operation. We have to ask ourselves these questions: To what extent does the Act of Congress create international copyright? What rights can British authors acquire in the United States, and what rights can authors who are citizens of the United States acquire in these kingdoms? And, in either case, on what conditions? In answer to the first question we must say that, if the word international is to be used in its accurate meaning, the American Act has not created any kind of international copyright. For international rights are reciprocal rights, depending either on express treaty or on what is generally understood to be the duty of civilized States toward each other. Thus, in the matter of copyright, the Convention of Bern is an international in strument in the strict sense, and the rights derived from it through the legislation or ordinances by which it has been put in force in the several contracting States are as much international (in a sense acceptable enough for common use, though not

strictly correct) as rights of individual citizens can ever be. But the American Copyright Act does not give effect to nor involve any treaty or agreement between the United States and any other Power. The rights conferred by it on aliens do, no doubt, depend on certain conditions, as we shall immediately see. The existence of a treaty with the United States, or to which the United States may become a party at pleasure, is one way, but only one, in which those conditions may be satisfied. Whatever the true motives or policy of the measure may be, it is a onesided and voluntary act on the part of the legislature of the United States.

In

There is no need to remind any one that, apart from this Act of Congress, the rights of a British author to protect his work from unauthorized multiplication in the United States were simply none. some cases he could obtain some protection by incorporating the work of a friendly American colleague with his own; and a well-known author could, by means of advance sheets, give an American publisher a start in the American market, which was worth paying something for. But these makeshifts were often precarious at best, and the breaking down of what was called the courtesy of the trade amoug American publishers had deprived advance sheets of much of their value. The new estate of the British author must now be sought within the four corners of the "Act to amend title sixty, chapter three,

of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights." Formerly, the Statutes enabled copyright to be acquired only by "any citizen of the United States or resident therein" who, being the author or proprietor of the work, should take the steps pointed out These words have now disappeared, and the person acquiring a copyright need not be either a citizen or a resident. But a new condition is imposed. Two copies of the work, as heretofore, must be delivered or deposited in the mail (to deposit in the mail is Congress-English for to post or despatch by post) for the Librarian of Congress:

"Provided that in the case of a book the two copies of the same required to be delivered or deposited as above shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom.'

And this must be not later than the day of publication in the United States, or in ay foreign country. This proviso was framed solely and avowedly to protect American printers from the competition of European labor, and it is followed by a prohibition (with minute exceptions which need not be now considered) against inporting foreign-printed copies, or foreignmade stereotype plates, of any copyrighted book. Compliance with this proviso may be troublesome and expensive, but it can be complied with by the foreign author or publisher who thinks an American copyright worth the price of having the book composed and printed in the United States, either alone or concurrently with the production of another edition in his own country. The final section of the Act contains another condition which cannot be satisfied by any act of the indi. vidual foreign author, but only by the laws of his nation.

"This Act shall only apply to a citizen of a foreign State or nation, when such foreign State or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens; or when such foreign State or nation is a party to an international agreement, which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its [sic] pleasure become a party to such an agreement.

The President of the United States is to determine whether either of these conditions is fulfilled. I believe that our copy

right law does fulfil the first of them; whatever doubt exists can, at any rate, be easily removed; and this brings us to the next point, What are the rights of the American author in Great Britain?

A citizen of any friendly State can secure copyright for his book throughout the British dominions by a first, or (it seems and is commonly understood) simultaneous, publication of it in Englandcertainly if at the time he is resident within the British dominions, and probably whether he is so resident or not. This last point, as to residence, has never been decided. It was judicially discussed

in the House of Lords in the case of Routledge v. Low in 1868. Lord Westbury and Lord Cairns thought residence in British territory at the date of publication was not necessary; Lord Cranworth and Lord Chelmsford thought it was; Lord Colonsay declined to express an opinion. It would be an unexpected event if any English-speaking tribunal were now to hold that Lord Westbury and Lord Cairns were wrong together on such a point. But, so long as the point is at all capable of doubt, it may be alleged to be doubtful whether this country (in the strange jargon which it has pleased the draftsman of the American Act to use) permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens." Lord Monkswell's Bill for consolidating and amending our own Copyright Acts, now before the House of Lords, proposes to remove the doubt by expressly conferring copyright on authors, whether British subjects or aliens, provided their works" shall have been first published in some part of the British dominions."

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Under the earlier Copyright Act of Queen Anne, a book would, perhaps, not have been held to be published in this country unless actually printed here. But it must be observed that only in quite modern times has it been a practicable commercial operation to print in one country and publish in another; and, down to the early part of this century, one might indeed say down to the present reign, the possibility of thus dividing the production of a book was so little thought of that 'print" was constantly used as a mere synonym for "publish." However that may be, I am not aware of any authority on the strength of which it could have

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been argued with much prospect of success, at any time within the last twenty years, that printing in this country was required by the Copyright Act of 1842 as a necessary part of publication. The International Copyright Act of 1886 has now extended the range of publication in space to the whole of the British possessions; it makes the Copyright Acts (enumerated in a schedule)" apply to a literary or artistic work first produced in a British possession in like manner as they apply to a work first produced in the United Kingdom. ""* And this appears to conclude the matter. Parliament cannot have intended that a British author should not have the benefit of this enactment if he caused his work to be printed in one part of the British Empire, and issued to the public in another. But, if publication included printing as a necessary element, such would be the result. On the whole, then, it appears that any one who publishes a book in the United Kingdom or any British possession can make sure of British copyright under our general law by a temporary residence on British territory, and that it does not matter where the book is printed. Subject to possible modifica tion in particular colonies,† his rights extend over the British Empire.

In point of fact it is by no means an unknown practice to have books printed abroad for publication in England. Some American books are issued at the same time here and in their own country, by sending the American sheets to England, and having them bound up with an English publisher's title-page; or, in the case of a house having branches in both England and America under the same firm, identically similar copies may be issued on both sides. A few scientific and philological English works are, I believe, print ed on the Continent; and much of the finer kind of scientific and artistic illustrated work is habitually done for English publishers in France or Germany; not because it is cheaper (in Paris it is probably not cheaper at all), but because, in the present state of English technical educa

* 49 & 50 Vict. c. 33, s. 8. "The expression 'produced' means, as the case requires, published or made, or performed or represented" (s. 11).

+ See the International Copyright Act, 1886, 8. 8, sub-ss, 3, 4.

tion, it cannot be so well done in England. I have never heard of any question being raised, either before or since the Act of 1886, as to the validity of British copyright in publications of this kind. Any restrictive condition about printing must be imposed by fresh and deliberate legislation, if at all. As against the United States it would be clearly within our rights, and would not prejudice the acquisition of American copyright by British subjects, as we are not bound by any treaty in the matter, and we should still be conceding to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as our own citizens.

The Bern Convention has little or no direct bearing on these questions, inasmuch as the United States are outside it. But Article 3 of the Convention appears to secure all the benefits of the Convention to Americans, or other citizens of noncontracting Powers, publishing their works in any of the countries of the Union. And by Article 18 other countries may at any time join the International Copyright Union established by the Convention. It seems, therefore, that we could, if necessary, claim the benefit of the American Act under the second as well as the first of the conditions above quoted from its final section. Nothing is said in the Convention about the place of printing as distinct from publishing, and I cannot see that there is anything in its terms to prevent "the conditions and formalities prescribed by law in the country of origin of the work," as mentioned in Article 2, which is the principal operative clause of the Convention, from including the condition that the work, if it is a book, shall be printed in that country. Whether it would be considered in accordance with the spirit of the Convention to impose any such condition is a question for diplomatists rather than lawyers. I wish, however, to guard myself against being thought to assume that any party to the Convention could enact a printing clause similar to that of the American Act without incurring some risk of diplomatic difficulties. In the same way, the existence of that clause might be a practical obstacle in the event of the United States wishing to join the Bern Convention. But I am not aware that they have any such desire. It has been sufficiently explained that the rights of American citizens in respect of their

works published in the United Kingdom are wholly independent of the International Copyright Acts, and are secured by our ordinary law. The facts above set forth also show that we have given citizens of the United States all that can be given in the way of facilities for acquiring British copyright, and, through the Convention of Bern, European copyright also. We have no valuable consideration to offer them in return for any further advantage to our own people.

Turning from the law to its consequences, we find a great apprehension in this country that British authors will be driven in effect to become American authors. They must print in America to get American copyright, and rather than incur the expense of printing in England also they will supply the English market with copies of American manufacture. Hence, we are told, will flow disaster to British printers, American innovations in our spelling and literature, and other perils and sufferings. Some people think, on the other hand, that the dislike of the British reading public to American spelling will more or less protect the British printer by maintaining a distinct demand for books of the accustomed English appearance. This appears to me but a slender hope. I do not believe the majority of readers here have any such strong feeling about American paper, print, or spelling, as will make them insist on being supplied with editions of home manufacture. Several American magazines already have a large English circulation, and I doubt whether many of those who read or skim them pay any attention to the spelling. My own eye is much less caught by Webster's variations of English orthography than by such forms as Teil, Rat, Tat, Not, in recent German printing. And I confess that I dislike them only in a lukewarm way. So far as there is any right or wrong in the anarchy of English spelling, I think Webster's changes are mostly right; but I think them too small to justify the trouble of making a difference between English and American usage. Until we can abolish all spelling rules whatever for a generation or two, and see what comes out at the other end (in which we should only be following the example of our ancestors three centuries ago), the common tradition of the printing-office is no worse than anything else. But I do

not think British authors or publishers will be found ready to sacrifice any considerable part of their gains as confessors against the Websterian heresy, or that the public will largely rally to the cry that Britons never, never, will spell defence with an s. It is not at all clear, however, that other and more practical considerations will not often make it worth while to print in both countries. If an English author decides to print his work only in the United States, it will take the better part of three weeks for the American printer to send out a proof and receive the author's corrections. In the case of a revise being required this time will of course be doubled. Another week must be added for the original despatch of copy to the printers. And, on the whole, it seems not too much to say that passing a book through the press under these conditions will, on the average, entail a full month's delay in publication. To this must again be added the time requisite for the transmission of plates or printed sheets, as the case may be, to England; and, finally, there must be a margin of some days to insure perfectly simultaneous publication, as the copyright in either country would be lost by a day's priority of issue in the other. The risk of losing MS. or proofs in transit is not great, but in the total of a publishing business I suppose it is appreciable. Time and risk would clearly be saved by printing in England first, and sending out corrected sheets to be reprinted in America. When these were ready for publication, and the publisher at home so advised by cable, the two editions would issue on the same day. It would be possible, and might in many cases be sufficient, to send out a carefully corrected type-written copy in the first instance, and trust the American printer for the rest. But it is also possible that many authors might object to this. It remains to be seen whether the saving in time and convenience by printing a double edition will not be found to outweigh the expense as often as not. And it must be remembered that the British authors who will most largely avail themselves of the American Copyright Act are those who are in a position to make their own terms in matters of this kind, and whose works command so large a sale that there is no occasion for author or publisher to measure the cost of production over-narrowly.