shadow of britain

Chapter 197
Cross the Strand Street in Westminster from Trafalgar Square, pass the Church of Our Lady and St. Clement's Church, walk east along this street almost parallel to the Thames River, look up to the south There are row upon row of mansions along the River Thames. Since William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold in the Battle of Hastings and entered London, the Strand Street has gradually become a gathering place for big figures in London's political and religious circles. land.

Almost half of the archbishops who occupy the 26 spiritual seats in the House of Lords own real estate here, and many former cabinet ministers or current cabinet members have also disposed of their properties here.

Because there are so many dignitaries living here, whenever the local diocese holds a diocesan meeting to elect respected church elders, occasionally a few former prime ministers or a group of former cabinet ministers appear on the list of candidates. scene appears.

And because the Strand Street plays a pivotal role in London's political and religious circles, other gathering areas have naturally emerged in its vicinity.

For example, located in the center of the City of London, the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall, but close to the Strand Street, the headquarters of the Knights Templar in England, which was built in the 12th century - the London Temple Church .

However, since Henry VIII broke up with the Holy See for divorce, the estate of the Catholic Knights Templar was naturally confiscated by him, and the Temple Church was leased to a group of London lawyers who valued the special location advantage.

Although after several twists and turns, priests and lawyers have been arguing for centuries over the ownership of the Temple Church, the two groups finally reached an agreement under the mediation ruling of James I-the independent property rights of the church were handed over to lawyers, But lawyers must always bear the cost of maintaining the church and keeping it from interfering with its ability to provide religious services.

After getting the property rights, the lawyers not only opened a law firm here, but also organized legal education in the Temple Church. Two of the four major law clubs in London - the Middle Temple Lawyers' Club and the Inner Temple Lawyers' Club are both originated here.

Lawyers took the lead in seizing the Temple Church, and after the improvement of printing technology, various big newspapers and tabloids sprung up in the streets of London, and the newspaper reporters who are highly sensitive to the timeliness of news naturally followed the smell. When I got to the Strand Street, where the dignitaries gathered, I tried my best to get first-hand reliable news, but if I couldn't get it, I would do some gossip.

They gave full play to the fine tradition of fast-running western journalists. As early as the 17th century, they began to gather together on Fleet Street, which is located in the east of Strand Street. heart.

Almost all the British newspapers you can name have their headquarters here, and even if their headquarters are not in London, they have to set up a permanent office in Fleet Street.

Blackwood, the pioneer of British literary magazines that originated in Edinburgh, is naturally not far behind. They also established a London office here with professional literary editors, cashiers, accountants and other staff.

In the office at this time, Arthur and Elder sat on the chairs in the editor-in-chief's office, looking at the middle-aged man with a big belly and wearing gold-rimmed glasses who was sitting at the desk in front of him.

The middle-aged man has all the necessary characteristics of a British gentleman, a neat white shirt and black trousers, a pocket watch with half of a gold chain exposed in his pocket, and a head that is shiny and shiny, but is extremely stubborn and has three hairs lying on its stomach .

Elder winked at Arthur and motioned him to look at the three hairs that fluttered like the flag of the Royal Navy fleet when the wind blew, but Arthur ignored his hint, not because he didn't pay attention to the two hairs. He is worried that even if he looks at one more thing, he will be blinded by those three hairs, so that he will forget the purpose of coming here today.

The middle-aged man leaned on the office chair, flipped through Dumas's manuscript back and forth in his hand, and finally shook his head with some pity.

Seeing his expression, Arthur felt uncomfortable, and he couldn't help asking: "Mr. Wallace, do you think this manuscript looks okay?"

Wallace put down the manuscript, put his hands on the table and shook his head: "Before answering this question, I would like to ask you, are you a loyal reader of "Blackwood"? Or have you ever done a preliminary review of our magazine? understand?"

If Wallace asked this question a while ago, it would be difficult for Arthur to answer him.Because he really doesn't buy "Blackwood" very much. As a Scotland Yard policeman with a meager income and a mortgage, he must be careful when buying books.

When he was a patrolling policeman, most of Arthur's salary was contributed to newspapers and magazines related to his work, such as "The Scourge", "Police Chronicle", "Poor People's Political Monthly", which combined politics and entertainment.

For a magazine like "Blackwood" that emphasizes literariness and literary criticism, he actually doesn't have much time and energy to care about it.

After all, few people would be willing to spend fourteen or five hours of work before allocating valuable rest time to find out the connection between romanticism and realism literature. The main readership of "Blackwood" basically also illustrates this point, will Most of the people who buy it are gentlemen and ladies above the middle class.

Fortunately, a while ago, in order to investigate Mr. Disraeli's life, Arthur bought a few issues of "Blackwood" that attacked him in a second-hand bookstore, so when Wallace asked, he would not Know nothing.

After asking a few simple questions, Wallace folded his hands and leaned back on the chair: "It seems that you really know what kind of magazine we are. Since this is the case, then you should know that just a few issues ago, I personally The chief writer criticized novels like "The Count of Monte Cristo" in the magazine."

Speaking of which, Wallace took out a magazine from the pile of magazines on the table, skillfully turned to the marked page, and pointed to the original quote on it.

"Thousands of readers open their wallets and spend their money on premium reading, anxiously waiting for one shoddy, sickly, repulsive figment after another to emerge from the 'literary factory' like rubbish. These fashionable novels, written by talented masters who claim to embody the essence of high life, have turned the literary world of Britain into a miasma."

After finishing speaking, Wallace couldn't help criticizing a few more sentences: "Sir, what we mainly publish here are poetry, prose, penetrating literary criticism, and reflection and satire on social phenomena.

Perhaps, this "The Count of Monte Cristo" is very interesting in your opinion, but in my eyes, it is a pile of rubbish that was rushed out.

There is no thought in the book. The opening chapter is a love story of a French sailor. Is it going to describe the love and hatred between several families later?please!That's the way of writing in Shakespeare's time. Times have changed. I don't ask you to have any new ideas, but at least we have to write some new plots.

Secondly, the rhetoric of the article is not gorgeous, it can even be said to be bad.The sentence structure used in this book is so simple that I suspect that it may be written by a child who is still studying in grammar school, but the author uses a lot of short sentences to cover up, but this can fool others but not me.

And this guy doesn't pay attention to the details of the article, and often puts a lot of descriptions in unnecessary places. It's just a simple dinner. As for the lobster shells, is it so clear?He likes lobster shells so much, he might as well be a cook.I deeply suspect that the author may do this in order to print two more pages and sell it for a good price.

Of course, if you still insist on submitting after listening to these, I will not continue to persuade you, but I suggest that you should change to another magazine.Since you are a friend of Mrs. Norton, let me recommend you a suitable one. You try to vote for "Magazine Monthly", where the requirements are relatively loose. "

If it wasn't for Arthur's surprise tutoring for literary magazines some time ago, maybe he really thought that Wallace was helping himself.

However, according to his understanding, "Magazine Monthly" is the main competitor of "Blackwood".

He was about to argue with the other party, but Elder did not expect to speak first: "That's right, Mr. Wallace. I think "Blackwood" should indeed maintain its high standard of acceptance. At this point Actually, I support you. In fact, I didn't see anything good about the "Count of Monte Cristo", and I even wrote a literary criticism about it, what do you think?"

After finishing speaking, Elder handed over the manuscript with a smile.

Wallace didn't intend to examine it at first, but because Elder agreed with him, he had to pinch his nose and glance at it twice.

After a while, his brows were wrinkled, and he slapped the manuscript on the table: "Now I feel that maybe "The Count of Monte Cristo" is not so bad."

"What did you say?" Elder jumped up from the chair, he grabbed the other party's collar, and almost gave him two punches: "Believe it or not, I threw you directly from the window into the Fleet River next to you." ?”

Wallace was taken aback by Elder's Royal Navy temper. He warned: "I...I advise you to calm down. We are a literary magazine here, not a place for gangsters to fight. If you insist on If you do that, I'll call the police!"

"Police? You can't fucking call the superintendent over today!"

Elder looked really angry. He was about to raise his hand to slap the fat man, but he stopped Arthur before he could do it.

Arthur grabbed his collar and dragged him back to the chair: "Forget it, since he doesn't want to make money, then we don't have to force him."

After finishing speaking, he said to Wallace again: "Then, sir, we will see you later."

He dragged Elder with a displeased face outside, and just opened the door, both Arthur and Elder were taken aback, they looked at the little man standing outside the door and raised their eyebrows in surprise: "Charles, What are you doing here?"

Holding a manuscript of "The Pickwick Papers" in his hand, Dickens looked at the two in surprise: "Arthur, Elder, are you two here to contribute too?"

Arthur shrugged. He got up and picked up the manuscript from Dickens's hand, glanced at it, and then jokingly said, "Charles, don't bother. I just inquired that they don't accept fashion novels here."

"Is that so... Well, there's nothing I can do about it. At worst, I'll vote for another magazine."

When Dickens heard this, he couldn't help being a little disappointed, but he quickly accepted the reality. After all, he had experienced things that were much more shocking than this in recent years.

He turned his head and shouted at a young man sitting in the hall, "Mr. Tennyson, I was rejected, and it's your turn next."

"Tennyson?"

Hearing the name, Elder stretched out his head and glanced out. As soon as his gaze met that face, he couldn't help but lower his head and spit: "Today is really fucking unlucky! Why is it really that kid from Cambridge? !"

But when Arthur saw Tennyson, he didn't react as strongly as Elder. He first glanced at "The Count of Monte Cristo" in his hand, then at Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers", and finally his eyes drifted away. Condensed on Tennyson with a restrained smile.

Suddenly, Arthur slapped his hands and couldn't help shouting: "Yes."

(End of this chapter)