New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-15
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME NEW NOVELS.
MAN AND WIFE. by wILKIE COLLINS Author, OF
rhe Woman in Whe,r mo Name" Armadale,'
1.-THE Moonstone," &C. With Illustrations New

the Moonstone," Sc. With fluctuations. New
York Harper Il Brothers.
This admirable novel which has been given to
American readers in the columns of H0rpo's
Weekly is by far the best work which have had
from Wilkie Collins. Like "Iut Yourself in His
Place" il was written with a higher purpose than
that of merely furnishing idle readers with Sum
meI afternoons amusement and though the story
Is one of absorbing interest, none but the very
thoughtless viii read IL for the sake of the story
alone. In this respect, Man and Wife, is indeed
notable illustration Of the tendency of modern he-
lion, which with how much else that is noble and
healthful in English literature we owe to Charles
Dickens 10 ally itself with social and political re-
toIms The advantages of this tendency can hardly
be overestimatcd A good novel, written with
power and purpose is more effective in correcting
o social or political wrong than years debates IN
Parliament or Congress. "Squeers" an impos
ability after Nicholas Nickleby appeared but he
might have flOurished TO this day. if the wretched
children whom he ground into their graves had had
no better champions than the clergymen who lift up
their hands in pous horror that good" people should
read Dickens! In our humble opinion, " good" peO-
pie could not do better than read Dickens with dill
gent attention. take his lessons to heart and put
them into practice. The world would be much bet
Tor for it, We suppose that no intelligent person
doubts that NJ. Reades attack upon insane aSylums
IN VERY Hard Cash. was instrumental in securing
he reform Of many terrible abuses in those insttu
lions or that his powerful exposure in Put Your
Ielf in his Place Of the ouages Perperated by the
English Trade Unions will set thousands of people TO
rejecting who never would have had a thought on
his subject but for the revelations of his story.
In Man ard Wife WillUe Collins attacks the
anomalies of the English marriage Iaws under which
nearly every legal outrage possible which the most
fertile imagination invent BY the Irish Statute
IF George the Second. which is still in force every
marriage celebrated by a POpish priest between two
Protestants or between Papist and any person
-ho has been Protestant within twelve months be
lore the marriage. Is declared null and void. BY
ko other acts of the same reign also still in force
inch a celebration of marriage is made a felony ON
Me part Of the priest. Frequent instances of wrong
and hardship arise under the operation of these laws
The case of Mrs. YclveTtOn, well known by reason
NJ the high position occupied by the parties con-
,erned, has many parallels that are rarely heard
Of beyond the locality in which they occur We are
assured that every material incident in this novel,
bearing on the operation of these laws could be
Justified by an appeal to incidents in actual life
We cannot attempt, within the limits OF news
paper review TO give a complete analysis Of the IN
tricate and complex story in which Mr.. Collins dis
plays the abuses which may arise under these laws
In the conduct Of the plot and especially IN the de-
6neation Of character he exhibits power for which
works had not fully prepared us. While we have
always acknowledged lis extraordinary tact and
Gkill in the management of story, we have not
considered Inn ny any means master in the great
srt of creating characters and giving them the ind-
yiduality Of real peIsons-a power possessed in ITS
perfection IS ole man only in modern times the
creator of r,chVlch: but IN Nan ana Vine MI
Collins display, very great advance In this direc-
ion Anne lvcster is now character IN English
In, al pOus Il
age 10 choose for the heroine of his story woman
syho in the eyes Of society, was ruined and dis
yraced and 10 CHALLENGE for her not merely the sym
pathy but the admiration and respect of all ms
readers such daring could he justified only by sue
sess and that is justified is the very crown Of sue
sess But Mr. Collins is daring in another direction
He not only makes his heroine q victim to man de-
eet. bat actually denies her that charm of per
sonal beauty with which most noyelis;s seek 70 pro-
pitiate the, readers. lie thus sketches her portrait
At the opening of the story;
There are certain women whose Influence over men IS
mfathomahc mystery o Observers OF tler own So
herittd the charm. b nottle beauty Of her unhappy
mother Judge her 5 nc ,aLaid ser up pa te h US
sentence have inevitably followed, she mas not
single good feature her face. There was nothing in
diyidulIy rsmari able about Miss Sylvester seen in
state OF Tcp1sc sne of the average hight she was
shs wa lst ~ n w. ~ even HAN tfs hcre We're
positive defects face, which it was impossible to
deny nervous contracts a. one corner Of her mouth
drew up the lips out OF the symmetically right line
when they moved. \ nervous uncertainty in the
eye on the same SIDE narrowly escalGd presenting
tie deformty of east" Aud yet with these indls-
putablc drawbachs here was one of those en-the
Formidable fcw-whO have the hearts OF men ana the
peace of families az their mercy she moyed-and there
subtle charm, -r, in the movement, that ma lc
lOOh back aid suspend your conversation with your
hiend ana watch Silently while she walked. She sat
by YOU aud talked 10 you-ind behold, sensitive some
thing passed into that little twist at tie corner OF me
gray eve. LcG taTned defSct into 6eauyy-wch en-
touched you by accident, ana 81 your LGart pc3unE
you l0Ok at the book with her, ana ct hoI breath
on your face Al tus, let IL be wen understood, only
happened u yon were man. II you saw mel WIN tle
eyes a woman, the results OF quite another kind
In that case, merely turned 10 yOr nearest female
friend, and said with ulaheced pity Tor the other SEX
"Wbat can the mt IA see IN ncr'
Yet such is the power with which this character is
drawn, her fate alone absorhs the sympathy and in
terest of the reader. No cares for Blanche the
lovely, sweet, and innocent girl for whom Anne
gives herself the most terrible self-sacrfee that
ran be imagined; OF for Arnold Dlanches lover and
husband, who becomes unwttmgly involved with
Anne in the tolls of the Scotch marriage law; for
any of the other Characters except in far their
good or bad fortune involves that of the heroine In
the end her triumph over society, by her liberation
from the man who first betrayed her and then
sought her life, and her happy marriage, completes
the readers satisfaction. 1t is of the most daring
things in modern fiction. Charles Reade made an
approach to il in the story of Mercy in Griffith
Gaunt - but that woman who has been betrayed
should not only by personal qualities, rise
periOr social TepToach, but marry WELL instead o.
ending her days in the secusion of a convent
Magdaen asylum, and that this should not appear to
be unnatural or homogeneous shows how deeply and
truly, in drawing such character, Collins has
touched the chords Of humanity.
The character of the second Lady Lundie is clearly
Il - I