many nights in Little Bourke Street, gathering material.

Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but every one
to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the
ground that no Colonial could write anything worth reading. They gave
no reason for this extraordinary opinion, but it was sufficient for
them, and they laughed to scorn the idea that any good could come out
of Nazareth--i.e., the Colonies. The story thus being boycotted on all
hands, I determined to publish it myself, and accordingly an edition
of, I think, some five thousand copies was brought out at my own
cost. Contrary to the expectations of the publishers, and I must add to
my own, the whole edition went off in three weeks, and the public
demanded a second. This also sold rapidly, and after some months,
proposals were made to me that the book should be brought out in
London. Later on I parted with the book to several speculators, who
formed themselves into what they called "The Hansom Cab Publishing
Company." Taking the book to London, they published it there with great
success, and it had a phenomenal sale, which brought in a large sum of
money. The success was, in the first instance, due, in no small degree,
to a very kind and generous criticism written by Mr. Clement Scott. I
may here state that I had nothing to do with the Company, nor did I
receive any money for the English sale of the book beyond what I sold
it for; and, as a matter of fact, I did not arrive in England until a
year after the novel was published I have heard it declared that the
plot is founded on a real criminal case; but such a statement is
utterly without foundation, as the story is pure fiction from beginning
to end. Several people before and since my arrival in England, have
assumed the authorship of the book to themselves; and one gentleman
went so far as to declare that he would shoot me if I claimed to have
written it. I am glad to say that up to the present he has not carried