The New York herald., 1873-11-02
AN AMERICAN" NOVEL,

! from the period OF early childhood up to that OF
maturity. and permits us to see him at school. at
| prayer meeting, at college. ut his hrst glass OF
wine, as well as in the troubles OF after life and
| amid the bttersweets OF maturity. The book ~
written something in the vein OF "Wifrid Cumber-
| mede" without DR.. Macdonald's eneminacy and
metaphysics. Arthur Bonnicaste. when quite
young boy is adopted by Mrs. Sanderson, wealthy
| widow In middle life, who has no claims
| upon her affection or attention He Is sent
| first to sort OF family school kept
! by DR.. Bird ana famarly known rs
'sThe Birds Nest" and afterwards to college.
ssThe Birds Nestn is OF those scholastic Edens
which, at the beginning OF autumn, are found In
abundance among educational advertisements.
We have never seen or heard OF such q school
excepting among school stories and advertisements
OF this description, but probably they are some
times to be found. SO is red snow. However,
Arthur Bonncastles moral. physical and mental
natures thrive under the discipline OF Dr. and Mrs.
Bird, and he derives great advantage from the
friendship OF Henry HUM, handsome, lonely,
mysterious and interesting boy two years older
than himself During the interval between school
days and college Arthur undergoes what he takes
to be conversion, connects himself with
church, takes the lead in prayer meeting,
exhorts not only his young companions.
but his elders, to look after their souls and in
full and dsagreeable member OF society From the
error OF supposing that morbid religious excite
ment is synonymous with putting on the things OF
the flesh and assuming those OF the spirit he Is
rudely awakened, first by the shock given to what
there is natural In his piety by the hypocrisy and
meanness OF Peter Muens 'charity STUDENT"
nd'then by the discovery OF his own weakness in
permitting himself to drink his first glass OF wine
and subsequently to get disgustingly tipsy These
events take place after he has gone TO college, ana
the result is that he despses his own fimsiness OF
purpose, and abandoning his religious principles,
sails forth upon the snOreless ocean OF infdelity.
Instead OF being inspired by the good fortune
which raised him from an obscure position and
gave him the means OF becoming finely
educated, he grows cnervated and useless
From this lamentable condition he is aroused
by the startling discovery that the mag
niicent expectations to which he has
been bred belong of right to his old classmate.
Henry HUM, and that every sentiment of honor
impes him to make the fact known to Henry. and
to resign all claim to Mrs. Sanderson's favor. This.
after short and bitter struggle, he does. Hulm IL
recognized as the grandson and legitimate heir Of
the old lady Bonnicastle feels his manhood come
back to him with the completed sacrifice Begin
ming life over again on one or the lower rungs OF
poverty's ladder, he studies law and supports
himself meanwhile by teaching school. Happiness
encounters HIM in the path Of duty and he marries
the girl who was sensible enough to see his weak
nesses in the days OF his outward prosperity.
1t is useless to claim that Arthur Bonnicastle
might have been made a different character, ana
that DR.. Holland might have shown that wealth
and brilliant expectations, instead OF eneryating,
sometimes strengthen. The author selected
his character, and had right to show
what results q certain combination OF
circumstances would work out. We are sorry that
some newer type should not have been chosen.
All young men are not spoiled by good fortune, and
twould be interesting to wach the process by which
an ingenious novelist, without violating nature,
would depict fortunate boy, raised from poverty
to wealth through an old woman's fancy, triumph
ing over the temptations OF voluptuousness and,
without being either a prig or a rascal, making
actual the ideals OF his ambition, while remaining
lovable to those who had known him in his obscure
childhood The book has been called representa-
tive American novel, but it Is not SO. The chtdr-
oscuro OF American society, American politics,
American religion, American business interests,
aud those social questions which are slowly being
wrought out here In America. nnds no
place In "Arthur Bonnicastlen The religious
episode, the scene of which takes place in the
Bradford family, and the principal actors in which
are Mr. Bradford and the Rev. Mr. Grmshaw, Is
plainly introduced 1or the mere purpose Of ex-
pounClng the autnOr'S views on personal plety,
and neither indicates the drift of religion in Amer
cuts to the core OF those speculative subjects
which an evangelical alliance avoids as scdulOusly
as free religious society pursues But we cannot
see that in the character OF Peter Mulens, the
clerical Bohemian, DR.. Holland has uttered any IL
bel upon the clergy in general. certain proper
tion OF rascals stumbes every year into the pulpit,
and Is just as amenable to the uses OF literature a5
Is the proportion OF rascals in any other profession.
DR.. Holland is not thoroughly mature and manly
in his style, he would not have penned that
ridiculous apostr0phe to o blazing nre and the
odor OF fresh toast which the reader may nnd on
page 1885, His novel Is an American one in the
that its scenes laid in the United States,
and that, In minutely following the adventures OF
his hero from the apron to the altar, from his last
bib ana tucker to his first brown stone front, he
has observed tbe American fashion, which the au-
thors OF "Queechy'' and "The Wide, Wide W0rldv
did SO much to make popular. But 1t is not
American in any larger sense IL is delicate, pure
and, for the most part. wholesome; but 1t has ne
new or proiount significance organicay Ameri
can.
We confess that we should like to see written q
novel so emphaticay Anne rican as not to admit or
question. IL is a task which various authors have
from time to time attempted, never, at least or
late years, with complete success. Bayard Taylor.
George william Curtis and Dr. Mayo have severay
thrown their talents into this line and the result
has been clever and amusing fctons, which re-
nected few superficial phases and opened some
or the more shallow depths in American society.
or course we are leaving out Of consideration that
school o: American fiction OF which Cooper was
the founder, and which chose for Its themes
subjects elaborated from aboriginal trad-
tions, and the relations into which the
early New England settlers were brought with
the native Indians In speaking Of the
American novel we have adhered to the signin
canoe implied by the use which DR.. Holland makes
OF that adjective upon his title page, that Is, a
novel representing contcmporaneous society IN the
United States. What Is required OF the novelist
ha ahnuld cnmnnae q work of this imp0rtAnce Ia