New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-01-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
49, ernnn,Rn.s rEMpLE HOUsE.


.r,D,pI ~ rOUsE A Novel. By ELIzABETH srODDARD.
i i2mo PIP 3G. G. W. Carleton d Co.
Tho ipfrepiditv with which Mrs St0ddard seeksfor
tbo materials of fictitious composition IN the most
unpromising sources is characteristic OF her mental
habits and presents piqusnt stimulus TO curiosity
even though It fails 10 awaken sympathy She dis
dams the chief allurements on which many popu-
lar authors rely for Her characters are not
only destitute of the prestige Of noble qualities
and enchanting manners, but are singular
~ bare of the common elements Of human
interest They make appeal TO any
form of sentiment to the ideal in motive conduct,
10 the charm of high culture OF exalted worth If
met with in every day social intercourse, we should be
apt to keep them at arespectfu distance certainly,
they are the last persons in the world whom should
care for as companions and to whose talk we could
listen with any of refreshment Many finer
natures, indeed cannot but regard the presence of
such creatures in the world intoerable ImpeT-
Thence and are tempted to think that
some screw is loose in the machinery of the
universe. or else their ugly aspect would not
have been permitted to blot the prevailing
beauty At all events, they would reject them
from the world of art or at least, Danish them to
the back ground fOs to attractive creations,
Tightening the expression of lOveliness by their in
trinsc deformity. Mrs. StOddard never yields to
gentle weakness of this kind She is so strong
in the possession and exercise of faculties that
she has neither sympathy pity for those who are
frail enough be repealed by the picture OF coarse
ness and vulgauty II is enough for her that such
beings are born in her fancy, and she delights 10
bring the resources of art to decentralization III inns
respect her position is unique No one can accuse her
of conscious or unconscious imitation She selects her
own ground, chooses her materials, and builds
after her own fashion. Her works arc the genuine
product OF her thought and bear the baptism OF her
spirit She may sometimes suggest the style OF
great author but she takes no one for model, ana
has abundant power TO give form to her fancies Oc-
casionay perhaps she reminds you of Crabbe IN the
minute fidelity with which she delineates humoie
life among sealarng people, and the bIiny ha'oi
which gives peculiar raciness to her descriptions
There may be also touch of Charlotte Bronte IN the
vivid flashes which she throws into the darker re- !
cesses of passion. and the vigorous concseness win
which world of character is revealed IN lew |
words But this does not impair her transparent |
identity She accepts no authority, treads III the
footsteps of no other. follows only her own
nature and is always herself She writes with a
brave sincerity. which cannot but command respect
whatever may DC thought of its application. Not
with any moral, or immoral. purpose certainly Dut
IN embody in narrative her own conceptions Of
character. Her mind is haunted with images Of I'M
lovely persons for whom she contracts a strange /
dlsagroeable responsiveness In catching the aspects
Of nature I'm which her scenes laid, she shows an
intense realism: the old maritime town of Kent |
stands before distinctly salt air and the smell
of tar can make it, no eXuberance OF
epithet no spread Of gaudy cOlOrs no far
fetched illustrations could equal the simple phrases
which bring up the decayed seaport where nothing
remained of the ancient prosperous order but marriage
birth and death, religion, the Supreme Court and
-.fsI a $40 howe
though in keeping with the external appointments of
their condition strike as as having little intrinsic
reality and in fact we judge them TO be pure crea
ton of fancy, rather than the fruits Of experience
Doubtless men and women in actual life may have
suggested isolated features and traits which are here
reproduced; but the combinations in which Mrs.
Soddard places her heroes and heroines seem 10 MS
no less purely ideal than the conception OF Caban
OF the ghost of Hamlet's father. We do not meet
such persons in any rank Of social life; if We
did so, We should give them wide BERTH
not take them to our hearts; though |
their qualities are found in some morbid
growths of humanity. But allowing Mrs. StoddGrd
the free use of her materials, and accepting the
coarscness wrongheadedness, and almost brutality,
which she takes fantastic pleasure in portrayng'
she is to be commended for the mental integrity with
which she sticks to her text. She never seeks to
disguise the human animals that form her menageTle.
No amsy veneering is made to cover up their
disgusting features. Her characters are plain, out
spoken people always calling a cat, cat swearing,
in good set terms, if such language belongs TO Them
with no dainty subterfuges for profanity, and never
swervng hairs breadth from their path through
any scruples Of taste, morals, or social con-
ventionahty. In the present novel, the plot
is sngularly meager in incident there
no complicated entanglements to embaTass
the movement Of the story, everything is made
to pivot few persons who never crowd the scene,
and the threads of whose experience into
the narrative without crossing twisting, COM
polling the writer to frequently retrace her steps in
order to take up some links of the story that have
been dropped. Nor is the reader ever wearied by |
any supeIhu0us pT0fusiOn of details. The author
never takes her characters 10 pieces placing them in
various relative positions and eXpatiating on
their respective attributes but hits them
of with succession of bold and often happy strokes
which leave no place for verbiage The story closes
with great abruptness. almost giving the impression
that the writer vas tired Of her task and leaving
the principal persons in certain degree Of mystery,
and the reader in doubt for what purpose they are
made to figure in a work in many respects OF such !
palpabe ability, OF why they called into being
at all He will probably part company with them |
without the slightest regret, any keen interest in
smore intimate disclosure of their fortunes.
THE FEBRUARY MAGAZINES.
The Ne,r- Highlander opens with an instruc-
tive account of the American and European Systems Of
Deaf Mute instruction" President WOOlscy continues
his able exposition OF the Law OF Divorce treating Of
its progress in Europe since the Reformation Professor
Fisher contributes an admirable review OF the life and
labors Of President Wayand and Meteoric Astronomy
A., d,scused In copo and almost exhaustive article by