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In his list of police spies in the Socialist movement, Morris includes the occultist Reuss and says he worked for the Central News:
“Police Spies Exposed” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 104, 7 January 1888, p.1-2, link
by William Morris
[...]
2. Charles Theodore Reuss, formerly theatrical impresario and concert-singer, now Bismark’s political agent on the Central News of London and the Cable News of New York; contributor to the Suddeutschen Presse at Munich and the Berliner Zeitung at Berlin. Police-spy in London (2 years and 6 months in pay).
[...]
--end
A quote from a novel by Hurlbert's friend F. Marion Crawford:
The Witch of Prague: A Fantastic Tale (New York: Macmillan, 1919, © 1890), Page 39
by Francis Marion Crawford
Philosophy? I am a mysosophist! All wisdom is vanity, and I hate it! Autology is my study, autosophy my ambition, autonomy my pride. I am the great Panegoist, the would-be Conservator of Self, the inspired prophet of the Universal I. I—I—I! My creed has but one word, and that word but one letter, that letter represents Unity, and Unity is Strength. I am I, one, indivisible, central! O I! Hail and live for ever!
The Speaker, Volume 4, August 22, 1891, Page 239
FICTION.
1. The Witch Of Prague. By F. Marion Crawford. Three Vols.
London: Macmillan & Co. 1891.
[...]
"Hypnosis," says Keyork, in the second volume of Mr. Crawford's new novel, "will explain anything and everything, without causing you a moment's anxiety for the future." Many a novelist during the last few years must have found comfort in repeating to himself some such words as these. But there are two kinds of hypnotic novel: in the one, hypnotism is exterior to the story, is used—frequently with absurdity—as an explanation of any of those wonders which are so easy to invent, and is merely an inartistic, mechanical conclusion-producer which—as the advertisements say—a mere child can work; in the other, it forms part of the subject of the story, is used by one who understands at least something of the powers and limits of hypnotism, and never serves merely as an explanation. In the former kind hypnotism is introduced to end the story; in the latter kind, to which Mr. Crawford's book belongs, the story is begun to introduce hypnotism. The former must be inartistic; the latter may be artistic. It must have occurred to many that the author of "Mr. Isaacs" and " Zoroaster" was likely to write the hypnotic story well; he has a fine imagination, creative and not merely exaggerative; he understands the atmosphere and tone of mysticism; he has a graphic and effective style; and he takes care to know far more than the average reader is likely to know of the subject upon which he is writing. In "The Witch of Prague " he has produced a novel that, in spite of its subject, may fairly be called extraordinary; it does not stand, by any means, beyond criticism, but it has remarkable merits.
Unorna, the witch, is a human figure, not an omnipotent monstrosity. Chance throws in her way a great traveller, called throughout this story the Wanderer. His wanderings have all been in search of the woman whom he loves, Beatrice. Unorna loves the Wanderer, and the Wanderer loves Beatrice only. That is the ground upon which the story is built., It. contains many striking and dramatic scenes. Its characters are not taken from the stock of the average novelist. Keyork, the great worshipper of himself, is impressive, amusing, and at times repulsive. He explains himself humorously as follows:
"Philosophy? I am a misosophist! All wisdom is vanity, and I hate it! Autology is my study, autosophy my ambition, autonomy my pride. I am the great Panegoist, the would-be Conservator of Self, the inspired prophet of the universal I. I—I—I! My creed has but one word, and that word has but one letter, that letter represents Unity, and Unity is Strength. I am I, one, indivisible, central! 0 I! Hail and live for ever!"
The appreciation of the book must depend to even more than the usual extent upon the temperament of the reader. The point where the impressive and wonderful begin to merge in the monstrous and absurd cannot be settled by a canon of criticism. But in every temperament the point exists, and we fancy that many readers will find that in some of the pages of "The Witch of Prague," Mr. Crawford is demanding too much from them. There are certain slight inconsistencies, which will be visible to anyone who is not entirely carried away by the story; and it is a pity that an author who sometimes writes like a poet and sometimes like a man of the world, should also sometimes write like a melodramatist. The foot-notes, telling us that certain incidents in the story are founded on fact, are ill-advised; they break and destroy the conviction; if placed anywhere, they should be placed at the end of the book.
[...]
“Police Spies Exposed” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 104, 7 January 1888, p.1-2, link
by William Morris
[...]
2. Charles Theodore Reuss, formerly theatrical impresario and concert-singer, now Bismark’s political agent on the Central News of London and the Cable News of New York; contributor to the Suddeutschen Presse at Munich and the Berliner Zeitung at Berlin. Police-spy in London (2 years and 6 months in pay).
[...]
--end
A quote from a novel by Hurlbert's friend F. Marion Crawford:
The Witch of Prague: A Fantastic Tale (New York: Macmillan, 1919, © 1890), Page 39
by Francis Marion Crawford
Philosophy? I am a mysosophist! All wisdom is vanity, and I hate it! Autology is my study, autosophy my ambition, autonomy my pride. I am the great Panegoist, the would-be Conservator of Self, the inspired prophet of the Universal I. I—I—I! My creed has but one word, and that word but one letter, that letter represents Unity, and Unity is Strength. I am I, one, indivisible, central! O I! Hail and live for ever!
The Speaker, Volume 4, August 22, 1891, Page 239
FICTION.
1. The Witch Of Prague. By F. Marion Crawford. Three Vols.
London: Macmillan & Co. 1891.
[...]
"Hypnosis," says Keyork, in the second volume of Mr. Crawford's new novel, "will explain anything and everything, without causing you a moment's anxiety for the future." Many a novelist during the last few years must have found comfort in repeating to himself some such words as these. But there are two kinds of hypnotic novel: in the one, hypnotism is exterior to the story, is used—frequently with absurdity—as an explanation of any of those wonders which are so easy to invent, and is merely an inartistic, mechanical conclusion-producer which—as the advertisements say—a mere child can work; in the other, it forms part of the subject of the story, is used by one who understands at least something of the powers and limits of hypnotism, and never serves merely as an explanation. In the former kind hypnotism is introduced to end the story; in the latter kind, to which Mr. Crawford's book belongs, the story is begun to introduce hypnotism. The former must be inartistic; the latter may be artistic. It must have occurred to many that the author of "Mr. Isaacs" and " Zoroaster" was likely to write the hypnotic story well; he has a fine imagination, creative and not merely exaggerative; he understands the atmosphere and tone of mysticism; he has a graphic and effective style; and he takes care to know far more than the average reader is likely to know of the subject upon which he is writing. In "The Witch of Prague " he has produced a novel that, in spite of its subject, may fairly be called extraordinary; it does not stand, by any means, beyond criticism, but it has remarkable merits.
Unorna, the witch, is a human figure, not an omnipotent monstrosity. Chance throws in her way a great traveller, called throughout this story the Wanderer. His wanderings have all been in search of the woman whom he loves, Beatrice. Unorna loves the Wanderer, and the Wanderer loves Beatrice only. That is the ground upon which the story is built., It. contains many striking and dramatic scenes. Its characters are not taken from the stock of the average novelist. Keyork, the great worshipper of himself, is impressive, amusing, and at times repulsive. He explains himself humorously as follows:
"Philosophy? I am a misosophist! All wisdom is vanity, and I hate it! Autology is my study, autosophy my ambition, autonomy my pride. I am the great Panegoist, the would-be Conservator of Self, the inspired prophet of the universal I. I—I—I! My creed has but one word, and that word has but one letter, that letter represents Unity, and Unity is Strength. I am I, one, indivisible, central! 0 I! Hail and live for ever!"
The appreciation of the book must depend to even more than the usual extent upon the temperament of the reader. The point where the impressive and wonderful begin to merge in the monstrous and absurd cannot be settled by a canon of criticism. But in every temperament the point exists, and we fancy that many readers will find that in some of the pages of "The Witch of Prague," Mr. Crawford is demanding too much from them. There are certain slight inconsistencies, which will be visible to anyone who is not entirely carried away by the story; and it is a pity that an author who sometimes writes like a poet and sometimes like a man of the world, should also sometimes write like a melodramatist. The foot-notes, telling us that certain incidents in the story are founded on fact, are ill-advised; they break and destroy the conviction; if placed anywhere, they should be placed at the end of the book.
[...]
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