WHAT ENGLISH NOVELISTS ARE PAID.

Anthony Trollope, after relating how for twelve years his annual income from literature averaged L4500 a year, and how in a little over twenty years he made L70,000 by his pen, goes on to describe the result as "comfortable but not splendid." Trollope's most ardent admirer would hardly claim for him the possession of great or original genius, but I should imagine that in the opinion of nine-tenths of the readers of his autobiography he takes first place among successful men of letters, looking to success from the pecuniary point of view, and considering the quality of the work. Trollope made L727, in the aggregate, by "The Warden" and " Barchester Towers," which, in the opinion of some of the best judges of our time, are by far his best works. He was paid L250 for "The Three Clerks," and L400 for "Dr. Thorne." He began to run into four figures with "Framley Parsonage," for which he received L1000; and his highest price was L3500, for "Can You Forgive Her ?" The highest sum that was paid to Miss Edgeworth for one of her incomparable Irish stories was L250. Lord Lytton is believed to have cleared L80,000 by his novels. It is a fact that Mr. Colburn's readers reported so unfavorably of "Pelham" that the manuscript was on the point of being returned to the author, when the publisher happened to glance at the first chapter, and was so struck by it that he at once decided to accept the work, and he paid L500 for it.

Dickens made quite as much money by his readings as by his novels. Many of his early bargains with publishers were deplorable, considering that his popularity was at a high flow from the appearance of the first number of "Pickwick." After a careful investigation of accounts, Talfourd made an elaborate calculation during the publication of "Nicholas Nickleby" by which it appeared that for three years previously Dickens ought to have been making L10,000 a year out of his writings. The circulation of the monthly parts of "Martin Chuzzlewit" fell to 25,000 a month from a circulation of 40,000 a month obtained by "Pickwick" and "Nickleby." This best of his books was the least successful of all his works on first publication, and, I believe, brought him the least money. So far as I remember, L7000 was to have been paid for "Edwin Drood" if he had lived to complete the story in twelve monthly numbers.

Thackeray made most of his money out of his lectures. For a long time he found it impossible to "place" " Barry Lyndon," which he always declared to be his masterpiece, and which only began to be appreciated after his death, and the earlier numbers of "Vanity Fair" excited little attention. In the last years of his life Thackeray told a friend of mine that he had never made as much as L5000 by any book he had ever written.

George Eliot made very large sums. Her total profits on "Romola" exceeded L10,000, and nearly double that amount is believed to have accrued to her by another of her works. Wilkie Collins received L5000 for "Armadale," the agreement being signed before a line of the book was written, and he gained the same amount by "No Name." Lord Beaconsfield profited little by his earlier books, but from "Coningsby" downward the gains were considerable, and he must have cleared at least L30,000 by his writings. It is probable that "Endymion" will be remembered as the latest novel for which many thousands have been paid down, as the new practice of issuing cheap editions after the first flush, in order to stop the sale of the second-hand copies which are flung upon the market by the large circulating libraries, has a decidedly cheapening tendency.