In The World of William Clissold Mr. H. G. Wells warns his readers against attributing to the author the views of his characters. It is as if Mr. Wells should say : ‘Don’t, please, blame me for what William Clissold says or believes or does. I am not Mr. Clissold : I am his creator. You don’t blame the Creator for the deeds, misdeeds, beliefs and misbeliefs of his creatures : therefore, don’t hold me responsible for the antics and opinions of the creatures of my imagination.’ Mr. Wells’s actual words are: ‘His (Clissold’s) views run very close at times—but not always—to the views his author has in his own person expressed; nevertheless, is it too much to ask that they should be treated here as his own?’

This ingenious method of gagging the critics will be taken no more seriously than Mr. Wells either expects or deserves. When, for instance, his Mr. Clissold utters libels and blasphemies against the Church and paints sordid pictures of Catholic priests, is not Mr. Wells asking too much if he expects us to say : ‘Oh : that’s Clissold, you know, not Wells; and their views only run close at times—not always’ ? If a showman at the fair were to change the ordinary use of one of his ‘Aunt Sallys,’ and were to use it as an offensive weapon with which to hit the heads of his fellow citizens, it is not at all improbable that the wrath of the citizens would be aroused and directed principally (as the Scholastics would say) against the showman and only secondarily against the Aunt Sally.