Examines a review by the antebellum Southern novelist William Gilmore Simms of a new book by the English writer William North (1825-1854), North's posthumous novel The Slave of the Lamp (1855), discusses possible reasons for Simms's hostility to North such as North's links to the New York Bohemians and his anti-professionalism, and explores what the review reveals about a now-lost Simms novel, with the same title, that gave a different perspective on mid-19th century changes in the conditions and profession of authorship in America.