The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-03-03
3.LightsLitaExture.


THEGRYprosRAM... By James De Mile, author
off 'The; Dodge Clubn &et New Hopks::
Harper Il Brothers. X
-<s,,Mr. Wilkie Collins has done much to demor-
alize the respectable fiction of the day. When
that very clever novelist tondescehded 70
apply the great resources Of a fertile iancy anu
vivid and picturesque Imagination 10 6he
establishment and justification OF purely
ephemeral and mechanical style of art-Wnen
be became, to nRct as much Of tsylyanu
Cob6 SasFit was possible for aswriter Of nus
really fine ability to be-he opened breach IN
the walls of legitimate fiction through winch IL
required no prophets vision to foresee Woulo
soon be poured that tide Of barbarian INVASION
which had SO long been inundatlng the oorder
land OF New York Ledgers and Dime romances.
Of all the Goths and Vandals, however, who
are thus intruding with sacrileglous feet lnto
the charmed circle, Mr.. James De Mile is,
nerbaps, the most mischievous. Not that he
is immoral, in the conventional sense; on the
contrary, his literary bill OF fare is, in this re-
spect, as milk for babes. Not that he encour-
ages breach of great or litad lsws-hfs VII
lains are all Systematically punished, aud MS
good people receive thousand fold for their
wrongs. We object to him because he delloe-
rately sits down and Invites an unsuspectlng
public to sup with him, not a la Barmeclde,
but full of horrors; because treasons, strate-
gems and spoils, murders, forgeries, aoduc-
tons and revenges chase each other pe!l-me!l
through numberless pages because from hrst
to last he tells us ''an empty tale, ful! OF SOUND
and fury, and signifying-nothng.' Ano'
finally. we object to him because all this iar-
raeo OF abs1rdltles, in which every canon OF
probability, every law of art, is ruthlessly and
| utterly set at naught, is presented TO us as
frst-class American nove-writins, and as an
object, not of criticism, but OF admiration.
| Throughout the inlerminabe chapters of "The
| "Cryptogram" we look in vain for any such
vivid types of character as we are accustomed
to find in Wilkie. Collins. No Count Fosco
mtigates with his charming inSoucidnce the
extravagant sensationalism of the sot-disa'1
| ''plot"-no Captain Wragge makes us forget
| the murky atmosphere Of crime and horror
! through which we staSger TO the bitter eno
I Instead OF thls We have the stifest OF lay
figures and the most hackneyed of puppets,
responding with fantastic Jerks 10 every pull OF
| the string By the deus er n,achina, whom the
clumsily shifted scenery scarcely conceals
We can hardly imagine more utter waste OF
time than the reading of this book would ln'
volve It should only be resorted to by the
most determined advocate Of the dolce far
| niente.
SIR HARRY HoTspUR, OF HUSBLETHwArTE. By
Anthony Trollope, author of "Barchester
Towers" &c. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Mr.. Trollope's last novel is very nearly
worthy of his fame, and wilt rank with the
best of his shorter tales. 1t displays many Of
his peculiar excellencles; is told in his usual
pleasant, though now somewhat affected man
ner, and will find many sympathetic readers.
He has used the same set of characters be-
fore but he dresses them differently on the
present occasion, and they play their trivial
part very gracefully.
Both the above novels can be found at all
the book stores.