The sun., 1880-09-19

ers. including several lndies. who have at
tempted the Irish novel since the silence
OF which we spoke. have caught nothing
but the general features and in their descrip-
ton everything that is Irish is pretty much
alike-lorde. peasants ladies. and nurses. To
May Laffans close observation and vivid pencil
1t belongs to separate tho genius into ts species
and individuals and to give us specimens. She
looks with observing eyes upon the life around
her. and depicts it with considerable skill she
is keen In her discrimination of common char
actors. and can well exhibit them, and her dia-
logue often reads like a transcript from life.
To power cf minute delineation OF char
acter May Lafrnn adds even already the
rare ono OF Interviewing the pecullaritics
OF her persons with the conduct OF her piece
without making them forget for momentthei
personal consistency. In order to appreciate ex.
actly the merit OF this power we must recollect
how seldom 1t has boen successfully employed
Even in the drama. whose particular province
1t is to combine the varieties OF human charac-
ter into one action. to draw them. as 1t were.
into the vortex OF one interest. and to produce
BY means OF conflicting passions one common
object. Shakespeare. we think we may say.
alone has been able to solve this great problem.
Other dramatists. especially the French have
chosen their characters and objects with di-
their whole chain OF causes and effects with a
precision which. being easily foreseen. is not
easily admired. He alone takes men and wo-
men as he finds them in nature. and. blending
their powers yet discriminating their motives.
without difficulty and apparently without effort
moulds the vast variety to the great purpose for
which he had designed them But in most OF
our modern drama and novels nothing is real;
their scenes are fancy. and their actors mere
essences.
Now. May Laffan has one marked pecu-
liarity. 1t is that OF venturing to dispense
common sense to her readers. and to bring
them within the precincts OF real life and
natural feeling, She presents thcm with no in
credible adventures nor inconceivable senti-
ments, no hyperoolical representations OF un-
common character nor monstrous exhibitions OF
exaggerated passion. To the passion OF love.
for instance-strangeq quality in young woman
she knows how to assign its Just limits. She
neither degrades the sentiment from its true
dignity nor lifts it TO a buresaue elevation. 1t
takes Its proper place among the other pas
sions. Her heroes and heroines, II such they
may be called. are not miraculously good nor
detestably wicked. They are such men
as those who have been on the spots
where she places her scenes would see
and converse with every day OF their
lives with the same proportonate mixture in
them OF what is right and what is wrong. OF
what Is great and what is little. Rejecting the
commonplace sources OF artificial interest. May
Laffan derives her attraction from genuine
display OF nature and certain tone OF ration
ality and good sense. which is the more pleas
ing because in the general run Of novels nowa-
days 1t is 80 very new The charm OF probable
ity by which May Laffan's novels are SO strongly
characterized is effected not only by an un-
deviating attention 10 Nature. but by producing
her under the forms in which she most usually
presents herself. neglecting those which. though
more imposing. are less frequent. She not only
prints to the life but has drawn that life from
subjects generally considered dry and I'M
productive. such as are supposed unfit mate
rials for fiction. because. even in real lfe they
do not excite any warmth OF interest. Charac-
ter. for instance seldom strikes until it is
formed and finished. But May Laffan repre-
sents 1t even in its first elements. traces tho
progress Of its formation. marks the effect
produced upon it by influences which. however
real. have no connection whatever with the
striking or the romantic. and conducts it finally
to contamination neither Of abandoned vice
nor OF iaultess virtue. but OF that mixed good
and evil to which most artists would despair OF
their ability to give interest and effect.
with such graceful feminine tact as to leave
the readers of romance no regret for the shin
ing improbabilities and fairy coloring Of high
fancy to which they have been accustomed. To
support in any degree the interest in a tale OF
fiction. and yet to divest II OF the romantic tone
TO which fiction seems always TO have owed its
chief ailurement, implies powers Of no ordi-
nary kind.
This novel OF "Christy Carew" is written to
picture what is termed the middle order
OF people around Dublin. and happily es-
chews. except in one stray sketch. the foolish
and fashionable Castle set," which consti-
tutes the favorite field OF the woud-be painters
of Irish metropolitan life The fashionable set
Of Dublin Is too vain. too busy. too dssipated to
read certainly to remember. anything written
about 1t. Everything serious it repels by " its
dear wit and gay rhetoric" and against every
thing poignant it seeks shelter in the impene-
trable armor Of bold stupidity:
fqSass FS at, A. s1sh, IS assn stricken hard
That Tear no discipline oi human hands
A book on their own society. and especially q
witty. pleasant. and popular book like this. is.
however. still a thing OF consequence TO such OF
the middle class in Ireland as are in
the habit of reading. They dispute about it
and think OF it; and as they occasionally make
themselves ridiculous by copying the manners
it displays. so they are apt TO be impressed by
any lessons its pictures Of character teach ami
on the whole receive it into considerable au-
thority among the regulators OF their opinion.
But devotees OF fashion. as a lot. have scarcely
leisure to read. and none. If they ever do read.
TO think about what they have been reading. 1t
would be a derogaton from their dignity to
speak OF a book in any terms but those of friv-
olous derision.
We are entirely averse to the practice
Of presenting a hating abstract OF
tale wounding its effects and anticipating
its interest. Suffice it to sny. that the story.
while quite natural and simple. is more rich in
| character, incident. and reflection than any
novel We have seen OF late /; as rapid and various
and as full OF practical sense as any OF Maria
Edgavorth's. The Irish characters are inim-
table OF their kind. not the coarse caricatures
| OF modern playwrghts. but drawn with truth,
| spirit. and precision rarely seen in Irish dein-
| cations The following picture OF an Irish