New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-20
NEW NOVELS.

NEW NOVELS.
SEA QUEEN. BY w.CLARK RUSSELL 16mo; cloth
PIP 45l; quarto, paper Franklin square Lior''y'
KING CAPITAL BY WILLIAM SINE. Paper ING
Transatlantic Series. G. P. Putnams Sons
THE STORY OF MELICENT. BY fAfR MLDo0'
London: Macmillan ~ Co.
There is clean and salty fragrance about MI
Russes ocean stories that never loses Its attractive
spell. Books and desk and four walls melt away as
one reads and there instead are the gtering lights
of dawn sparkling upon tumbng waves the sweep
and toss of the ship responding TO her helm Inc
wind cries in the rigging sings about the keel;
and BELIEVING sails and stout hearts carry the
mettled courser of the sea to saie maven.
Mr. Russell writes of the ocean as oil
a sweetheart, capricious and undlsclphned
darling but wholesome too, and amena-
BILE to manly guidance so it be brave and honest.
He has had eyes for all the subtle changes OF sNy
and atmosphere, and his water pictures never grow
wearisome, though they shadow or brighten
every page. He has delightful power
of holding his readers within the little world
of wandering ship and making them oblivious OF
everything but the tragedy and comedy going for
ward there. There can he little variation in tic
plots of sea tales nowadays; wreck, mutiny and
deadly disease love and lofty courage are the In
variable pieces of the game; but Mr. Russell plays
them with a skill and grace that always bring ircsh
interest and new pleasure. HIS " sea Queen Is
an admirable creature, high-hearted brave and
tender-as bright daughter of the ocean as ever
trod good oak and Loyalty loved her lord. Mr..
Rnssers style has lost nothing of its attractive
simplicity He has apparently taken DeFoe as his
master he could not have a better one.
Mr.. Sine has written story dealing with the
labor question, delightful in its impossible romance,
and ending happily after the orthodox fashion,
although hardly in accordance with the stern
teachings of political economy orthe usual results of
conflicts between labor and cahal The centra!
figure Battle Govan "the head Of the largest boiler
works III the kingdom" is Scottish edition OF Mr..
Gradgrind with a hundredfod more ignorance, vul-
garty aad rcpulsiveness. As a foil there IS the
handsome and preternaturally endowed young
workman. the leader of the trades union,
who presumptuously falls in love with
the Babies daughter the knowledge
of which is mercifully spared him. The young
workman who kisses her at the third or fourth
meeting although che Had never kissed a woman
before" is arrested under a charge concerted by
the Bae, on account of his share in the strike. lie
is sentenced, but escapes. eudcs the officers by
leaping into the river. and IS supposed to he
drowned, but returns in time to prove bis
innOcence-how familiar all this sounds to 60
into partnership with the Babies brorhr who
POUNDS a great firm, and TO marry his sweetheart
after the Bahc's RUN and death With this in
terw0ven two other tales of courtship and wcdlock
between people of widely different social positions.
1t is easy to find verlfcatOn of the pictures Of
the w0rkmen's life with Its scanty wages and phi
va tons in the letters of the Hon. Robert =. Porter
while such stories as The Par,oA o Dumford,"
and Charles Reades Put Yourself in h4 Place -
have depicted similar phases of the labor question
in the British Islands. Indeed, trace
many points of strong resemblance between
the hero of Charles Reade's novel and Abel
Durrand. Mr.. Sine writes IN simple
style which ID favored with touches of humorous
sarcasm and lightened by pointed contrasts. His
book is an interesting story and not series of
metaphysical analyses Still his chief characters
stand out with sufficient vividness, although the
colors are a Thought heavily lad on, and we close
his volume with the wish that similar instances of
poetic justice and romantic cOmpcnsltions were to
be met with in real life.
In contrast with the vital interest of Mr.. Simess
work is another volume IN which we find page after
page of vapid dialogue. the gossip, the mushy
theological discussions, and the petty scandals of
an English provincial town. In the prologue the
anthor describes meeting with n lady who was
an ENIGMA" who bad "a rare ard painful dual
ity" who was gwen to conversations upon death
and 'unfulflled lonGing'," and who held that
"thc certainty of death makes life tolcrablc."
This enigma Fayr McdOc chocolates for us in - The
Story of Mecent." and we discover after reading
through 235 pages that Melicent's first love- who
is prevented from marrying her by the trining cir
cumstance of previous marriage, commits suicide,
while che aftcrward makes marriage of self
sacrifice 10 the happiness of her brother and
her friend. Hence the unfulillcd lOngings." It is
somewhat surprising to find the tale OF King Ahab
and Nab0th'S vineyard applied rs motive. Nell
cents brother, poor but of high descent, the
Retreat" n humble property coveted by the
wealthy Ahab. I he brother falls in love with
Ahab's daughter, Ahab plots to make the 'Rctreat"
the price of his daughters hand. The brother re-
fuses, the daughter remains dutiluy true to her
ia; her. This is an interesting situation which we
begin to fear will never end At this cue, however
Meccnt enters. Her lover has securely drowned
himself. leaving diseputable vile. Meliccnt has
rallied little from 'Gc double blow and she solves
the probem by accepting an offer of marriage pre-
viously made by tLo elderly Ahab on condition
that he shall give his daughter umeservcdly to
her brother. ltc curtain falls upon promiscuous
coul tSnip among the members OF the chorus. The
uninterrupted flow of gossip and water which COM
pose the bulk of the book makes the reader really
grateful for so strrin. an incident as a suicide.
Those who are ordered to avoid any excitement or
nervous emotion, as well as intellectual effort may
safely read "The Story of Meicent." And it can
also DO recommended as an iDfa llible sopOriGc
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