Shadow of great britain

Cross the Strand Street in Westminster from Trafalgar Square, pass Our Lady's Church and St. Clement's Church, and walk eastward along this street that is almost parallel to the direction of the Thames, looking up to the south. In the past, there were rows of mansions along the Thames. Ever since William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings and took over London, Strand Street has gradually become a gathering place for big figures in London's political and religious circles. land.

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

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

Due to the important political status of Strand Street in London's political and religious circles, other gathering areas have naturally spawned near it.

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

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

Although there were many twists and turns later, the priests and lawyers struggled for centuries over the ownership of the Temple Church. In the end, 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 the lawyers. But lawyers must always bear the cost of maintaining the church and maintain it without interfering with its function of providing religious services.

After obtaining property rights, lawyers not only opened law firms here, but also organized legal education in the Temple Church. Two of the four major lawyers' clubs in London - the Middle Temple Lawyers' Club and the Inner Temple Lawyers' Club. Originated from here.

Lawyers took the lead in occupying the Temple Church. After printing technology improved, various major newspapers and tabloids sprung up in the streets of London. Newspaper reporters who were highly sensitive to the timeliness of news naturally followed suit. Arriving next to the Strand Street where dignitaries gathered, I tried to get first-hand reliable information. If I really couldn't get it, I could just get some tidbits.

They gave full play to the fine tradition of Western journalists running fast. As early as the 17th century, they began to gather in Fleet Street, located east of the Strand Street. After entering the 19th century, Fleet Street simply became the center of the entire British news magazine industry. heart.

Almost every British newspaper you can name is headquartered here. Even those whose headquarters are not in London must have a permanent office in Fleet Street.

The pioneer British literary magazine "Blackwood", which originated in Edinburgh, is naturally not to be left behind. They also established a London office here with professional literary editors and cashiers, accountants and other staff.

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

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

Elder winked at Arthur and motioned for him to take a look at the three hairs that fluttered like the flag of the Royal Navy when blown by the wind, but Arthur ignored his hint. It wasn't that he didn't pay attention to it. He is worried that even if he looks at the same thing one more time, he will be blinded by those three hairs and forget the purpose of coming here today.

The middle-aged man leaned on the office chair, holding Alexandre Dumas's manuscript in his hand and flipping it over, and finally shook his head with regret.

Arthur felt bad when he saw his expression. He couldn't help but asked: "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 first, are you a loyal reader of "Blackwood"? Or have you done any preliminary research on our magazine?" understanding?"

If Wallace had asked this question a while ago, Arthur would have been hard-pressed to answer him. Because he really didn't buy much of "Blackwood". As a Scotland Yard policeman with a meager income and a mortgage, he had to be careful when buying books.

When he was serving as a patrol constable, most of Arthur's salary was contributed to newspapers and magazines that combined politics and entertainment, such as "The Scourge", "Police Chronicle", and "Poor People's Political Monthly", and were also related to his work.

He actually has little time and energy to care about a magazine like Blackwood that emphasizes literature and literary criticism.

After all, few people are willing to take precious rest time after working for fourteen or five hours to explore the connection between romanticism and realism literature. The main readership of "Blackwood" basically illustrates this point. Most of the people who buy it are gentlemen and ladies of the middle class and above.

But fortunately, in order to investigate Mr. Disraeli's life a while ago, Arthur bought several issues of "Blackwood" that attacked him in a used bookstore, so when Wallace asked him, he would not be surprised. Nothing.

After a few simple inquiries, Wallace folded his arms and leaned on the chair: "It seems that you do know what type of magazine we are. In this case, you should know that in the first few issues, I personally The main writer criticized the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" in the magazine."

Having said this, Wallace directly pulled out a magazine from the pile of magazines on the table, flipped to the marked page skillfully, pointed to the original text and quoted it.

"Thousands of readers open their wallets and spend money on paid reading, anxiously waiting for one after another of shoddy, useless, and disgusting fabrications to be produced from the 'literary factory' like garbage. These fashionable novels, claiming to encapsulate the essence of high life and written by talented masters, have made the British literary world a mess."

After saying this, Wallace couldn't help but criticize a few more sentences: "Sir, what we publish here are mainly poetry, prose, and penetrating literary criticism, as well as reflection and satire on social phenomena.

Perhaps this "The Count of Monte Cristo" seems interesting to you, but in my eyes, it is just a piece of hastily produced garbage.

There is no thought in the book. It opens with a love story about a French sailor. Is it going to describe the love and hatred between several families later on? Please! That's how it was written in Shakespeare's time. Times have changed. I don't ask you to come up with any new ideas, but at least we have to write some new plots.

Secondly, the vocabulary 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 it may have been written by a child who was still studying in a grammar school. However, the author used a large number of short sentences to cover up, but this can fool others, but not me.

Moreover, this guy doesn't pay attention to the details of the article, often describing a lot of things in unnecessary places. It's just a simple dinner. As for the lobster shell, is it so clear? He likes lobster shells so much that he might as well become a cook. I deeply suspect that the author may have done this just to print two more pages and sell them at a higher price.

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

If Arthur hadn't unexpectedly studied for a literary magazine some time ago, he might have really thought that Wallace was helping him.

However, according to his understanding, "Magazine Monthly" is the main competitor of "Blackwood". The two parties often ridicule each other in their own magazines. The subtext of Wallace's words is actually the same as telling him to get rid of the manuscript quickly.

He was about to argue with the other party, but unexpectedly Elder spoke first: "That's right, Mr. Wallace. I think "Blackwood" should maintain its high standards for receiving manuscripts. At this point, Yes, I support you. In fact, I don’t see anything good about “The Count of Monte Cristo”, and I also wrote a special literary criticism about it. What do you think?”

After saying that, Elder handed over the manuscript with a smile.

Wallace originally didn't intend to examine it, but seeing that Elder agreed with him, he had no choice but to hold his nose and glance at it twice.

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

"What did you say?" Elder suddenly jumped up from the chair. He picked up the opponent's collar and almost punched him twice: "Believe it or not, I will throw you directly from the window into the Fleet River next to it. ?”

Wallace was startled 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 If you do this, I'll call the police!"

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

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

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

After saying that, he turned to Wallace and said, "Well, sir, we'll see you later."

He dragged Elder, who looked unhappy, out. As soon as he opened the door, both Arthur and Elder were stunned. They looked at the little man standing outside the door and raised their eyebrows in surprise: "Charles, What are you doing here?"

Dickens held a manuscript of "The Pickwick Papers" in his hand and looked at the two of them in surprise: "Arthur, Elder, are you two also here to submit a manuscript?"

Arthur shrugged. He stood up, picked up the manuscript from Dickens's hand, glanced at it, and then joked: "Charles, don't bother, I just asked, they don't accept fashion novels here."

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

When Dickens heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but he quickly accepted the reality. After all, he had experienced much bigger blows than this over the years.

He turned and shouted to a young man sitting in the hall: "Mr. Tennyson, I was rejected. It's your turn next."

"Tennyson?"

When Elder heard the name, he stretched his head and glanced outside. As soon as his eyes met that face, he couldn't help but lowered his head and spat: "Today is so fucking unlucky! Why is he really that kid from Cambridge?" !”

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

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