The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-11-13

Dagber., the sAoler, who, BY the way, L
quite an amusing chap over his jog Of ale;
and II is TO be regretted that the author
makes the career Of the latter 90 brief, a.
there g nothing like humoT, more or less,
even III b In 4 tragedy; the two opposing
sentiments are like light and shade In q
picture. HumOr may always be put 10
the mouths Of meuiGls, and with telling
effect, The residue Of the dfAmasis per-
sons are Sub0Tdinates. and demand no
special mention.
Whatever credit the sulhoE deserved
for his clever drama Of 1.-THE Sons Of
GodWin'-ahd that Eas quite catering.
as the work VA generally spoken we'll 81
by the American and indeed the foreign
presa-We say unhesilatingly that he has,
In the present. work, far surpassed aThe
Sons Of Goodwin" The characters are
better fitted TO each other. Each char.
acler figures In exact proportion 10 the
mission II has 10 unfold. There l. nice
harmonious balance preserved through.
out the whole story. The play, IL, 10 10
speak, more eo!lo9uial than the earlier
work Of the Suthor. The speeches, as a
rule, are more distributed, thereby en-.
surfing greater variety and less proliEity.
The author shows himself to he born
poet throughout the entire book. Take,
As an instance, the character Of Pellitus.
This Is from the mine Of the authors
own brain. This character never flags.
II Is after Sll the central figure around
which many OF the principal ones re.
yolve. The great wizard, up to his tax.
ing Oh, Is always self possessed. Some OF
the finesL pasiages In the book are spoken
by this deep hssinsGl villain.
That the book has faults what book
has notS) We presume the author will not
deny. Asa rule the authors yersiica.
tion Is richly melodiouS; bat there are
rough passages In the book notWithstand.
ing. Take for example a want Of rythm
Indeed a supetauity oisyllAbles on pase
54-"0n GsOyHedd's Throne, not the
unfortunate Eaid;" again, on page 50, ITO
show the figure Of the Soaaerfl sIeed."
The italics are ours and are inserted for
the purpose Of drawing the readers At.
tention directly to the defect. The word
'hApless' inserted in the frat line would
be an equiSalent 10 meaning, aud would
make the line what II ough! to be, but is
not an iambic, The word "Wondrous"
would perform tie same Office for the
second line. On page 9sWe have wrong
arrangement Of words as follows:
"Ot loveliness when | should sing gay
notes" the rythmic accent acquires lhe
words sing" and unotes" to be accented.
This, however, il destructive Of the sense
that is intended TO be conveyed. The
word gay Is the word that the sense Of
the line would demand to be accented,
hence Encouragement Of words Is re.
quircd-thus "Ot loveIiness when /
should gay noSes sing All Of the above
are violations Of the established canons
Of rythm, which the author will at once
discover, There are other infraciions OF
the same syllable code 10 the work, but
the above will suffice to illustrate our
meaning. It may be urged that other
authors have been guilty Of similar Of.
fences. This is not to the point; what.
ever is wrong should always be avoided,
aud more especially in elegsnt compost
ton like the work under notice.
On page 72 the author makes Pellitus
say 10 Enid:
Fair princess give me love-" On page
70 he puts these words into Enid mouth,
u cannot give you love" and he causes
her to Repeat the sane on page "a, ~
cannot give you love" We submit that
the expression, give me love, is not ele-
giant, 10 say the least OF it, These are
not objectionable defects, bat We believe
it 10 be the province OF conscientious crit.
icism to protest agsinS: any violation Of
the rules OF r!thm, OF Ct the beautiful in
composition, especially when they appear
in the works OF candidate for dramatic
favor so able and gifted "a is the author
Of ihis Otherwise polished d;ama. i.
must be admitted, however, that few
works will stand the test Of . rigidly Sc.
we're criticism, hut az the author aims
high, and his abilities are admitted, he
should have steered clear on the one
hand oil the scylla OF rythmical offence,
and TIE ehGry SGis Of iRelegance on the
other.
We will nov tGrn TO The mere pleasing
task Of taSOTing the reader with what we
consider some very elegant extracts from
this verybeautiiul drama. We quote:
PIsc2o-
W.T., "The sui Of Han,
Ia CdIilrI hlyh kingdom, Is priceless jeVsl,
A sparkle Of DlItnIIy's pure Light
And all lhl1t else that he most courts here,
Wealth, PIGasufes poEeI are Fasting Of hts ssrAs,
eArnsa's and ylAnas for hil!aay
Page %
,.Look or tho s.lE. e Gs4'I high. promises,
Bis lights that sbiue tiou mEuEi0ns Of the best.
Toe fighu o! BIRDS His le SUES 70 the vile,
Telling h1N nature moves lnStlnc. With force
And hartno1y, hrcAthtd fem kindly heaven,
And bearing i!ndllnezs and love to G:s.',
P.se 80
at Is siEn thHt gJ'nin evil thlrgs
May be n saving element Of god
Az, there's nothing % utterly IIelI
i hath no touch or guSi;y OF smother;
N!S6ta Pride Of stare suggests the light OF aGy;
DIy'S SNifeE cATsrus h9ld Imprisoned nlgs:"
10 guidIrg Irlht.
Tint Elttslt thIOnel above this desperate chance !!
How shall name thse' Fortune All not %;
l would noI have tkeo wear the iraadf1l smilO
Of her, the common tulItrszs u RankI,d,
Who With c,ISasIDg hnseFI hl.n4I our sysI
While her dark plrIinUur, CLlamity,
steals silently upon Ia"
PseEO-
Here will We raise our church upon the aite
| OF 01ll'i broken RltArs, and the ruins
| OF az old tLlth shall SetVs to bahia the HsWs
For truth ats eyer ~ pHt TRtIuth,
More Giot'Yus taIn toe thing Ihs Overturned
pas.