New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-14
MISS DUDr FLETCHhBS NEW NO VEL
"THE HEAD or MEDUSA."

thny nd tLe luck The Head # Mednsa is no
exception to this rule The situations me " inter-
nutioual" combinations of English, Americans,
and Italians. are constructed on the model OF MI.
! rturss stories. The sentiment, OF when mere IS
vast abundance would tie after the same
tue pattern Of the Diary Oi a Man OF futy "
the author had not IN this respect hten more III
0uenctd by Miss Ihackeray. Inc HEAD oil
bicdisa Is novel IN minor key IN very subnued
tones. The characters, though not al I0NiuNi''s'
like one ot them. Mr.. LcNet,r. ar" an IKE MN
people O. sentiment. The padding, oil Whlch ne
Head of Acjusd is all compact. ~ scnt'W'hih III
the manner OF Miss TharkoIIy. Tie tharact rs are
ALWAYS meeting in lonely places. ana ID Wbat tue
author calls supreme, or SupreiicSl moiheU'7
They then invariably anu cOnNcicil louolS oDS't'e
all tn minute details Of sound, hearing color,
hght, and shauOw which probably IN real ne
4, aue the no Zee of passionate pilgrims. DO people
whose emo ional maln-~pungs are tightly W"Uh1
up really notice ana rrmembt 7 Such Things as nat
a cq ,ual TRANSIENT child wore stockings OF dhrr
eut colorsi VIII some emotional person give MS
confessions 70 the publio, and tell the truth! Inc
ORG nal model OF All these passages OF writing we
take {, be fhr very beautiful chapter by iha'hrtay
which lc-. TihrS bow Henry LS,nond -tood ny ~
unknown mothers grave. Since tns was written
the MANAGEMENT Ot these casual cplSoars mas be-
come some hing OF a trick. 10 j. iilcN Wh!Cu
" George Flrmiug" plays sometimes wei, more re-
ourntIy win less Kill. When the heroine, IN
crisis oi thr supucm.st sort. "Spos ana i.fnlalY
dNclls on he unmatched stockings OF enid VINO
IS nothing 10 her, we feel our doubts
ON tn other hand, here is % rcmirkablc piece OF
description which, wc think makes fun amends Tor
many less fortunate pages. Inc heroine "I me
story is watching by the dcathhoI OF a bcautltnI
Italian woman, her rival, when She becomes aware
OF a singular succession OF sounds III the silent
streets Of Rome:
"Iti.tac she y changiug Ias'uro," the nurse said
laying down rosary md listening.
II H hIce o. Size being ven from one larI OF
tnr Can H. gna to another and orossrg he cHy tie
dead Of nirt. For nearly mile the narrow street was
blocked with dun m'yne mass, now DARK ana stiuf
gng now nearly white. a. i vas lost M "a, SHADOW
81 IN hoa,rs creme grd lut0 the am III oJ=h, o. c'c
cross-s Ie, ThCr" thousands upon thousands OF
u.cn' TI'c cnhog ntbed IN G"rsy co1sens aud
Il -rtrf. Ittl-f IN NVlfr
I'm - v"r, fcyy minutes the room was filed with the
gru WING student OF the sheep. Thc air grew I'M
prcgna. Il win "A ild musky smell In q moment, ont
Of fc cnt summer n ct. there had #
thousands Of struggling crcatur :. The noise which
thry was Ike nothing dcscrbaDc, uothng mag
maple. Il did away witt all ciyl'zau OIL Ii
wrs like -oae.hua born OF the nigh, something aieu
lnartcula .. wild. nuo strange heyon desoiipt on
The story is 50 slight that it scarcely seems worth
" lille to analyZe il. To he sure there IS not much
more of story in the lives of the majority OF men
and women IN those brief years of l0ve-mdklng, OF
choosing. AMI losing, which, TO nONtilStS az least
seem TO make up the sum OF human life That
thnls easily go wrong, that mistakes lrrevOeabie
mistakes. are commonly made that LIE after these
blnncrs is almost empty except OF regret, that the
fountains OF thought and action can he kept sweet
and fresh by loving memory of some one h0pelessly
lost, this as We take H. Is the moral Oh ne HEAD
of Medusd." The heroine Barbara Floyd, IS an
American girl Of great purity ana nobility OF char
actcr who nanics the wrong man. II alt con-
sciously IN love with cOuntryman OF her own
named HaIdinge, she let's herself he drawn into
marriage with an Italian Count Cesco Lalli, and
ia about years time or less. she is dlSelclahted
Her husbands character Is very DapplIy lhulcdlcu
in this image.
Once travel NJ the Italian Tyra with her father,
they had spent The greater part Of asumher dy afN
ING beside the ! rFpn rOck-strcWu eXpansc which az
times vas he a Scream. she remembered the ara
ron-honnd look OF those mountains; IN auothtr way ~
s,SnG n Sontherp names Had he ever pret-n led %
b.. Otherwise he was Sue thought OF the lhllan
stream; ma the 'ul pouring. Surgng udr o. MS pis-
ston~brpakn ne rests zee and owe. wnelmug retr.a'-
sun corchcd wilderness IN tue extremity of summer
As long as the anthOr is busy with these two per-
sons and with u few OF her subordinate figures, she
appears TO TO show real and very considerable
power. Barbara Floyd is the daughter of an
American gentleman whose wife had deserted nm
while Barbara vas child. She has seen very niue
Of the world when she meets Count Lal at Il dance
in Rome. LallI and his friend Borgla, if not true
pictures of Young Italians, are certainly very like
young Italians as seen by English or American OBJ
servers Iall's dcfect, or one OF has defects is 10
make a continual display OF all his most glitterlng
qualities He is han sOme. brave, hcartlcss cruel
posodr of the worst de scrptlon, VINO pays Ut mag
nanimitv about money matters while he Is really
mean and hard. He IL thing OF sentiment, like
all the persons IN the story, anu gives himself up
hXuriouSly the of beng III love. though his
affections shift every fortnight. WITH all tbs, he Is
adtoit and nv appealing to Barbara for pity and
friendship" he mystlties the poor girl that she
becomes engaged 10 and marrles him. Then LAM,
like Sir Launcrl0t, in the romance. falls To his old
love again" hangs about married couSin proNokeS
the jealousy of her husband, and rs, IN way, tho
cause oi the womau'S death The misery OF the lIto
which Barbara leads with this man. on an estate IN
the country. Is only mtigated by the memory of a
certain Mr.. Ilarfingc, who has married friend OF
her own Miss Octave Damon. Hell husband is
uuite aware that she loves Har,inge-indeed she
has told Lalli as nnch but then iiardingc is safely
out of the way. The reader may ASK What has the
:" head OF Medusa To do with all this As tar rs
we understand the authors meaning. her heroine
looked on the Gorgons head at the moment when
she discovered the hopelessness of heI yn for
tunes. and saw herself at twenty-five cut on from
love and life a chldcSs woman win I'M Indifferent
and unSympathctic husband. in this doOrOus
ease, Barbara Is preserved tIotn beng actually
turned, ~ III the old myth INTO Stone; by her
memory Of her friends husband. Mr.. liardingc
She takes an interest i'll the education OF the local
Italian poor because IIardngc who has Just taken
his degree at Oxford was interested III popular
We confess that we could give poor Barbara more
sympathy # she had not cchSOlod herself by an I'M
aglnaiV ahair of the heart with the absent ann un-
cooscIOnS husband OF her friend That such a sen
tincnt should continue in her breast IS one thing;
that a good woman should make mental pet of the
sentiment ana u II Utlyc that influenced all her
life Is another affair. Indeed it Is surprising that
Lalli. Icing what ho was. nd not cut her throat
Oid Rarehcrita the Roman servant OF Bar"ara
tells u stony at the beginning Of the novel about
Roman Ahopkrcpcr who had settled his MATRIMONIAL
GiticuIties with knife. And perhaps we could
forgive barbara more readily If there had been amy
reason why she should fall III love with lfardlnge
He was n good hearted, handsome young fellow,
with tree flow OF I've usual Oxford talk. which de-
riyes its humor from the contrast between The
gravity ana magnitude OF the topics and the Hght
indifference OF the speaker. He seems very well
mated least far we nave utsic his cIiaI
acterl with Octave Damon. u pretty American GIRL
who's, practical know ledge OF lite is foil To Bar
baras ant of selfshnrss and guile. Barbara has
another lover, Nr. LeXetcI. but, rs he has attained
To the great age of thirty-hvc. and Is. besides,
writer FOR rho press. he is never IN the running.
Still we are gwen "A glimpse OF n moment when he
might have come IN with effect but Lc1ctcr was
too ehy.
The Head of Acdusa" is lar better than tho
common ruck of novels To tho utmost Of the
writer's powers she ms stfifcn 10 produce a work
of art sine hns written her best; she has conceived
her leading characters well and, though We do not
Ike her moral. il is obviously one that to the
author seems adequate. We have already COM
, planned Of the number and length of the Intcrpo-
lated DIES, rIpJions of heetng Impressions. Some
tunes the impressions make tn reader forget all