New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
RECENT FICTON.

THE CoLoNEL,s DAUGKH ,Sa Il 81 s. a. Emo pp 40
j. b. Iippncott * Co. 49,. ,,.s
AN HONORABLE sURRENDER. by Gon mA"f AD'"''
nv ,Gs,o m 323. Charles 5cripners oohs'
c,nroN FIFYcE A Novel. BY Henry NJ Lucy;
IL ,isure Hour sericSl lomo' PIP Oh h'"''
ruS .n,,pAI,s WARD. Novel. BY MRS ALEX
Henry Holt Co.
STORY OF CARNIVAL" BY Macy aoa A. NJ Herry Holt
L Co. ~
In aThe Colonies Daughter" Captain King
makes good use OF scenes which the noYeii"' Ma
not vet dee spoiled Of their novelty. Inc action Vi
his story takes place at =" Camp sandy IN Ari~o""
and the dTamats persona are all sodleiS anu
. army Ladies' He's by no means the first TO en-
nlov such materials in the construction 0, an Amer
lean novel, but lew Of his predecessors have neeh
successfnl enough TO deserve remembrance, and his
1velv hook therefore has tia charm OF freshness.
His nrucipal characters are well defined; several
rIeosant and natural figures across his pages
and certain of the ugly features OF camp society ID
which ladies have little 10 do except gossip auu
criticise are drawn with tie pencil OF the sa'riS
The sketches of life in cavalry command Oh 'no
frontier are exceedingly vivid and interesting ON,
the element OF ad venture is furnished III Tue =
and spirited accounts of affairs Win mo n"''I0
Apaches Captain King is To De thahhou luz q"
.,..rtainin. contribution to the slender STOCK OF
American military nVvels-a contribution so soou
that We hope he will give US announcer
@An Honorable surrender" IL rather proVoNihS'
We cannot like the odd and emotional heroine,
who makes and breaks engagements SO often WIN
ont ad,ounte reason uor do we find any Individual
itv in the two eligible young men between whom
she IA 50 long vacillatng. The story contains no
incidents it is apparently intended for study IN
nsvehol0eical analysis; but this is brand OF re-
s,,rch for which the author is lndlherentIy
equipped.
Mr. Lucy is an industrious London journalist
whose duties have made HIN familiar with many
details of Parliamentary life and the PERSONAL as
poets of politics, and he Las turned his speclai
knowledge to account IN the composition Oh clever
novel. His story is founded upon the adventures OF
a newly made rich man IN the attempt to obtain
seat in the House Of Commons, and IN the course oil
IL some of the mysteries of electoneerng, the de-
yious WAYS of agents the mental operations of in
depeudent voters and other elements of an English
Parliamentary contest are described with minute
ness and vvacity. Although this exposition OF the
working of one part of the machinery oil free gov
ernment is prolonged through contract ana SUD-
stautial volume it never becomes ures0me Types
OF character are drawn with art; conversations are
pointed and sprightly and the humOr is abundant
aud generally natural. The whole episode OF the
Ioncsboremen and Gdeons banquet to the county
maguatcS OIL tD6 eve VI luo fObhS may w Si'NN 10
GOOD examples Of Mr.. Lucy's fun, and to some ex-
tent of his higher quality of wit; while III the
sketches of certain Subordinate personages the
reader will suspect pungen reference to real men,
better known on the other side of the water than
here The travesty of RehobOth Chapel is hack
neyed and rather coarse, and might all have been
omitted with advantage to the book While the
aspirations of Gideon Fleyce furnish the motive OF
the novel, there is also highly sensational plot.
covering O murder and some delightfully."- unex-
pected discoveries; and tho manDer in which the
author untes his political and social pictures with
his mysteries and his loye-makngs il remarkably
skilful The. denUuement of the Parliamentary con-
test is we'll managed, and the dspenssiOn of poet
ical Justice the close will meet with the approval
OF sober Judges. The darker scenes are somewhat
too boldly improbable, and the writing is some
times surprisingly hasty; but these are faults
which most novel readers will easily forgive.
Perhaps it is not unjust to describe The Ad-
miraps Ward" a fair specimen OF the machine
novel in the manufacture of which England has
almost "a virtual monopoly. There is no reason why
an industrious writer, after acquiring certain
pcrlencc in practical details, and facility reel
inp of commonplace yet not exactly empty con-
versatons might not produce literature of this sort
with the most exemplary regularity and speed; and
yet strange to say it Ii only IN England that the
industry, like brewing pale ale and curing break
fast bacon, has attained the proportions of a
national interest. Mrs. Alexandcr's story 10 by
means i'll devised or clumsily told 1t Is about
secret marriage. estate which goes astray. viz
tuUus orphan and a wicked cousin. and all the otheT
familiar incidents OF a crooked succession but
the old materials are handled with an adrotness
which partly compensates for the lack Of novelty,
and our interest pretty well sustained in spite of
ho LII of moVpment and the OH Ons drift
of events It is true that the dialogue is not usually
bright Most of it is mere talk which obstructs
tho progress of the narrative. But at times it is
good; and the scene between Laura aud the Prin-
cess Moscznsky has dramatic character much
above the average level of the book.
IA Story Of Carnival Is at once novel Of
incident and study of character and society. In
the former aspect it has the cardinal merit of being
highly readable. There is wholly unnecessary
murder III it which does not help tie story and
must he considered as an unfortunate excrescence
and the finale is weak and hasty; but apart from
these defects the plot is well handled. The concep-
ton of the hero, an honorable and essentially manly
but Observation-Disclosures Englishman. invoIved IN
perplexiies and nisfortunes through the faults Of
Others is happy one, and il successfully carried
out The strongest attraction Of the book lies in
its pictsre oil the life of group of intelligent and
cultivated American and English people III cOntem-
porary Rome. Here we defect fine, firm, mascu-
line hand an intimate and sympathetic familiarity
with the subject: admirable descriptive power,
and poetical iElpressblty. The sketches of reiIg
ious solsnnites of carnival scenes, of domestic in
teriors etc, always short always vivid,
and always touched with something Of the
imaginative quality; while the reflections with
which the book abounds pertinent and often
striking. The idea of the story is not unlike
woman's, but the executiOn-especially the aia-
logue-is sngularly like mans.
FROM PONKAPOG TO PESTB. BY THOMAS BAILEY
ALDRICH. 12mo. PIP. 267. Hougnton, Mifiin * Co.
The airy fairy charm of these slight sketches of
travet is quite indescribable Mr. Aldrchs debOnair
style has here reached its most polished perfection,