New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-08-05
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
RECENT NOVELS.

THE BEAUTIFUL WRETCH. A Brighton story ny
brary Harper 4 Brothers.
FRIENDS END Aage' BY ElzA ,a STUART Go PHELPS
THE FATE OF MADAME La TOUR A t1 Ie, OF
Great salt Lake BY AIRS: a PADDOCK 1Omo'
PIP. $50 FoIds Howard & Hubert.
OF nil entertainments for idle summer day
there is none perhaps which so little disturos the
mind as the perusai of one of Mr.. Anthony Troll
lopes later novels. There was a time when the APP
pearance of a new work by the author of the
chronicles Of Barset waited with plQuant cX
pectation A certain freshness in the scenes.
novelty in the selection OF types OF character famil
lar enough in real life but unusual in the pages of
novel combined with a mild but genuine humOr.
give these tales distinct and ereditable place
literature. Many Of us perhaps relished them all
the more in consequence of vague that it
was just little wicked TO make such an amusing
exhibition of the foIbles of the clergy. But Mr..
TToope has grown sedate and respectable. The
frisky days when he pOked fun at bishops seem to
be ages back. He hardly ventures now even to
laugh at a duke. He has become the historian of
the commonplace; and if lie still vibrates between
the houses of the nobility and landed gentry. and
the houses of the we-to.do middle rank the per-
sonages to whom he introduces in this mixed
society belong to ordinary class, undistingushed
either by rare virtues, or great vices, or eccen-
tricitics, remarkable adventures Their troubles
and peFplexities only those of everyday people.
There Is nothing out of the way in their love-makug
unimportant obstacles and there is nothing sur
prising I'D the end of their story except that it
should be so long deferred. As the individuality of
Mr. TrollOpes creations becomes less and less dis
tinct the placid and meanGering stream of his
rative becomes and more voluminous and
sluggish. 1t flows on with calm, soothing UNI
ruiiicd, lesurely movement, as if it had inexhaus-
tible reservoirs behind it and all eternity before,
There why it should stop. And
indeed, long this indefatigabe gentleman of
letters is content to devote himself to the nroling
of the Unromantic Novel is there any reason why
should wish it to stop. Though it is his daily
practice to show how work of fiction lie
emitted without the of the imaginative faculty.
it must be acknowledged that no is not dull. 1t is
the problem of the Troope novel that dull charac-
tiers and dali scenes do not make duh book.
Ayalas Angel" is an excellent illustration of this
phenomenon. Neither Ayala nor any OF the other
young ladies whose affairs of the heart are ex-
planned to us i'll this story be called amiabe, or
bright or interesting in any way; the mar
riagea5e gentlemen presented to us much
tertaining than their predestined mates, Neverthe-
less do take sober and deeorOus concern in
their fortunes; and although know perfectly
well from the outset which Of Ayaas various lovers
will turn out to be the Angel of Light her fancy
has exacted a husband. quite content TO
follow Mr.. Trollope, patient and moderately
amused, through the descriptions of town and
country life masculine ardOr and feminine states of
mind by which he reaches at last the general pair
ing-of which he declares to be the proper end of
every we'll regulated novel. 1t may be that the
author is even more deliberate in his pace this time
than usual, but then his chat by the way is more
than usually entertaining. His sense of humor is
especially alert aud there arc several sceaes-such
as the abortve elopement of Gertrude, the subse-
quent visit of Captain Batsby at the house of his
lady-love, and the embassy of Mr.. Traffick to Sir
Thomas Tringle-whch are actually racy. The
characters of Trafick and Sir Thomas are sketehed
almost in Mr.. Trollope's best vein and the ladies
of the Tringe family offer striking-we dare not
say truthful-llustratons of the malice and injus-
tice of women toward one another
MIR. William Black is a refreshing contrast to
the prolixity of Mr. Trolope. "The Beautiful
Wretch" cannot be called "A novel of incident the
plot is slight the action is closely restricted but
the story moves briskly; and it leads us through
such variety OF scenery amid such hustle and
change of breezy out-o door life that we are some
what surprised when we come to the end to find
how little has really happened. The vivacity and
pertinency of Mr.. Blacks dialogues and the bril-
hancy and vvidness of his descriptions especially
of the active forces of nature explain in great part
the animation which pervades his novels. The
Beautiful Wretch is a fascinating and true hearted
young lady, with as strong a love for the open air
the Princess of Thule; and we encounter her on
the wind-swept downs of the south coast and on
the stormy shore, and among covered Alpine
passes and by soft italian lakes 1t is pleasant to
get back into such good wholesome company after
the lurid horrors of Mr.. Blacks Sunrseo
The motive of Miss Phelpss story is hardly
sufficient to Justify book. "You need me-" saws
John Nordhau to his friends widow. | need you
III a rational man and woman in a rational state of
society cannot pursue q rational friendship without
contemplating or perpetratng marriage engage
ment, either by accident design, then civilization
Is faiure" Well IN some it is clear that they
cannot; and the positions of John Nordhall and
Reliance Strong are so arranged that the failure is
quickly foreseen, even Though Reliance cngs fran
tcaliy for few years to the image Of her dead
husband whom she considers to be spiritually Just
over her shoulder, and John restraints himself
through a sense of loyalty to his dead friend But
while Miss Phelps unduly postpones the inevitable,
she reconcies to the delay by the ingenuity with
which she describes the struggle and de velopment
OF feelings and marshals the circumstances which
must at last prevail. Two or three subordinate
characters are treated with delightful hurnor and
the book abounds with flashes of wit and srnartness
and bits of poetieal description
Mrs. Paddock. who has lived many years in
Utah, undertakes to expose some of the iniauties
OF Mormonlsm through the agency of a work of
fiction The task is which might well inhame
the zeal of any American woman, and it may be
that the facts which Mrs. Paddock has here pre-
sented will have some effect upon the conscience of
nation too long Indifferent to one of the fouest
blots upon modern civilization. This tale however.
lacks both constructive art and literary STYLE and
its startling historical statements are not suff-
GENTLY attested to have their due weight There is
an appendix, containing certain references and ex-
plantations. but il hardly answers the purpose Ono
why exposures of Mormousn have had On