New-York tribune., 1870-08-11

IN EXITU ISRAEL An HsToRIcAL @ NOVEL; Icy By ;;
BARISGGOULD, NJ A., author OF curious Myths OF
the Middle Ages &C.. &c. Ne" iork' Maeinil"h
d Go.
No period in modern history has been eagerly
seized upon by nOvelsts as the French Revolution,
and no period in all history has ever offered so rich
a harvest of materials for their art the most eXct-
ing situations and the most remarkable characters
being ready made for their The French have
gathered largely herein of course and the Germans
have followed them as cleaners, but to neither has
the abundant field yielded its treasures so freely as
TO the English whether i'll the form of History, as
to CARLYLE or of Fiction. as to Dickens Carlyles
.. History of the French Revolution" and Dickenss
"Tale of Two Cities if not the greatest works OF
their authors the works by which they are least
likely to be forgotten and in which the French Rev
olution is depicted with the greatest vigor and
trnthfulness. Next to them we should
nlaee Miss Sarah Tytler's "CitOyenne JAG
uueline." touching little story, with fewer
terrors than the /" Tale Of Two Cities" but with
more tenderness and pathos, and less tragica end
ing. We should place Mr. Barring Gould midway be-
tween Dickens and Miss TytleT if he hadaTt enough
10 develop his Intentions but unfortunately he has
no art to speak Of He has studied but not mastered
his materials. He possesses his knowledge, but is
not possessed by il Dickens was by his knowledge,
and to snch degree to forget himself and his pc
ruliar method of composition for the first and last
time in his life. There great elements in Mr..
Barring Goulds novel but il is IN no sense a great
novel. What he undertook, among other things,
was 10 show the disadvantages under which the
French clergy rested when il TO the interest Of
their superiors to Oppress them and the advantages
which his rank gave to the least of the nobility over
all who were socially below him. What cOudnot be
done with impunty by a nobleman under the dnciea
s<qime ii would be difficult TO say; but with little
adroitness he could safely do whatever the devil
and his unbTidled lust prompted him to, from kid
mapping peasants daughter to immuTlng his own
wife in the Baste. model Segneur of this sort is
NJ Bertbier whose relations with his wife, whom he
nicknames Madame POmb on account of her leaden
appearance, and with Gabrielle Andre, form the
staple of the plot of " In EXtu Israel" COM
pound of the bully and the coward, NJ Berther does
not impress us so strongly the poor woman who
hears his name. and whose wits, never very strong,
have been shattered by his profigacy and brutality.
As a study she recalls of the fantastic mon
strosties of Dickens, the least natural of whom
mare natural than she. tits quite possible that Mr.
Rarinp Gould NAV have come across such a creature
IN the eourse of his reading. but we question the
taste which led him to portray her, as we question
the taste which led Dickens TO portray hls ghty peo
ple We admit that these last are amusing ana, Whlle
we are under the spell of Dckenss genius that they
appear to have their own touch OF nature but' at
the best, they are so exceptional as to make us
regret that he ever meddled with them. We Will
not say that madness is unfit TO be represented IN
art, but outside of Shakespeare we remember no
xaad characters from whom derive the slightest
r.easure. We derive nothing but pain from Mad
,ne PlOnb. except, perhaps, in the scene where she
forces herself into church while her fathers body If
lying in the coffin, and after cajoling the populace
by whom be is execrated insists upon having the
coffin opened that she NAV take a last look al his
face: "Open the coffin for me- good people. You
shall see my father. He is not very terrible now
. a tnsnsarew' was called from naa W maa; aud