Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-01-06


VERY HARD CASH. By Charles Reade, au-
thor of "Peg Wellington - and other tales.
New York: Harper Bros, Publishers, 1864.
There is, perhaps, no living novelist who
works are marked by so many prominent
virtues, combined with SO many glaring
faults, as the novels OF Charles Reade. Indeed
the whole realm of letters does not contain a
more Independent, sslf-ssssrting and Origi-
nal subject than he. He is sHi generis. We
can call to mind but one author whose style
In the least resembles his. It is this habit Of
pugnaciOus originality which makes the dis
tinctive vices of our author SO glaring. His
faults are almost always the outgrowths and
exaggerations of his virtues. Mr.. Rsade is
very frequently eloquent, and his eloqusnce
sometimes becomes bathos; he aims at trsg-
edy, and once in while he only hits melo-
drsmsj he draws character very powerfully
but when his characters are deparOnized too
many Of them are earicatures and not por-
traits; he fills his stories full with exciting
incident, and the result is that the reader is
rather sstistsd than satisfied; he affects orig
inality, and ruthlsssly assaiIs grammar,
punctuation and typography. In brief, Mr..
Reade's weak point is the tendency to over do,
natural enough in young scribbler, but a
serious fault in practiced Wheslhorse of the
pen.
But We are glad to note a great i'm
prOvement in these regards. Some of Mr..
Rsade's earlier vagaries have disappeared
entirely, and oehsrs show symptoms
of rapid decay. He actually puntuates, and
even shows some respect for capital letters |
Many Of the exaggerated fantasticalities
which dishgured the delightful pages
of f' Christie Johnstone," " Clouds and Sun
shiue," "Peg WOfngton," and his other
earlier tales, and hung round "Never too
Late to Mend" White Lies" Love me
Little, Love me Long" and other later
works, are now unnoticeable in &c Very Hard
CASH"
We will attempt no synopsis of the Incl
dent in this most fascinating book. That
would take up columns where we can give
but lines. It introduces to you a noble,
manly, simple sea captain, with the soul Ofa
lion and gentleman 1--WE hops the lion will
sliOW the comparatively his wife, q quiet,
proud, loving, English lady their son, a
feminine compound of beauty, purity and
FIRE the villain of the story, a banker of
splendid intellect and small moral power,
who would like to do right but WOrships
MammOn his son, highly bred gentleman
and genius,-the hero of the story; his
daughter, religious bigot, and yet loVabls
little body; Scotch doctor, who hates hum
bug a cute detective sharp servant girl
q brutal keeper of an insane asylum,-snd
countless other people, each stamped with
his own individuality. The portraits, to be
sure, excepting the master pieces, Mrs. DOdd
and Richard Hardie,ar Overdrawn, but they
are truthful after all.
As to incident, the book is crowded full of
thst-Rnd of incident of the most varied,
startling and fascinating interest. The best
proof Of this is that it, alone, of the many
modern novels printed in serial form, has
succeeded in enchanting the attention Of its
readers in that most wesrisome form of
(which, like a wounded
snake, drsgs its slow length along" All who
read it in Harpsr's Weekly will bear testi-
mOny to the feverish interest which its
weekly numbers excited.
We have referred to one author whose
works Rsade's books remind us of. We shall
startle some readers by naming Victor Hugo
IS that author. Dissimilar in many points,
there is yet likeness in others. A curious
in the construction of sentences Is
The same with both authors. Both are in
dramatists, and write tragedies in
novel form. One Characteristic marks both
tendency to intsrjsot gen
sralities into conversation or narration.
Both too, attack most vigorously the existing |
aumbugs of their respective countries.
Both are permsated by the same laughing, |
careless, i,soueiant briIliancy. But after all,
Hugo is the massive rock, and Reade, with |
III his virtues, the mirrored reflection in the
rave.
every Hard Cash /" ought to be, if it is
lot, the most popular novel of the season. 1t
S for sale by J. B. Cobb & Co.
UNITED STATES CoURrs.-The January |
srm of the District and Circuit Courts Of the |