New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-09-05
REV PUBLICATIONS.
a., r,verTrs RUTHERFORD,

SutnresslVenesS, as all mover l'"'''' N''''
quality which the tragic IN fiction often eon'r''es
10 miss; il Is we'll constructed II contains so'he
xcellent sketches of fashionable life and touches ol
.a,re and vet it will hardly be called one OF the
authors copsnicuOus successes. We are niue ~
loss TO say wherein it dssppOrnis rs; nevertheless
we have read IT with less satisfaction than we gen
orally get from Mr. Fawcetts stories For one
thing il is too long; or, TO he more precise us
method is too deliberate and disCursve Inc au'noi
found an excellent subject in a complicated """"
of crossed lives and at an early stage of the ha'r"
tive he excites interest, our curiosity our P
prehension. in the movement of circumstances WV"
Seem tending toward general misfortune Inns
nerbans makes Ms a little impatient with the fpF
sodes the small talk of balls and receptions 'he
merciess exhibitions of ariStocratc pretens!oh anu
vulgar display, the ridIcule OF male lolIy anu
female friyolity, by which Mr. Fawcett mas 50
often attracted us in his lighter books. He has not
lost his skill but attention IS diverted rom MS
usual topics and il is he himself who has diverted
q By inyenting so serious a story. The plot is
handled at many points with great skill. The STU
otion in which Rutherford and Adelaide Van Cort-
ondt are so suddenly brought together IS very wei
devised and the action of the hero, III an anar
which is the key a train of disasters, is thus man.
aged naturally and with dramatic effect Inc con-
duct of Rutherford after this forcoe scene IS also
traced with art and with correct insight and there
approach of the Inevitable aud hopeless
misery which is TO curse the mismated pair
a misery prccpitatcd by the very Vehemence
of Adelade's love- If any reader feel disposed 10
COMPLAIN of harsh and even brutal strain which
appears in Rutherford toward the last, he must
remember that this handsome and well-bred gentle
man. who has all the superficial qualities Oh an OF
nament of society. is never really presented 10 us
as a man of strong fibre or of high aspirations In
ia lie is "A latent
for cruelty and selfshness which it needs only the
blight of misfortune TO call forth and RUTHERFORD
we take IT, is meant for man OF tins class. Inc
effect which Adclaide's jealousy produces upon
bun is therefore accurately described We ma II
impossible however to reconcile ourselves 10 MS
behavior Ia the catastrophe of the story where To-"
mud death ate 30 horribly united ana we are nor
quite sure that our slmpathes, when We close the
book, lie lust where out author expects to leave
them.
Rutherford aud Adelaide are the most successful
of the lending characters. bat the most distinctly
individual portraits are those OF the cttlhN6saot
aud amusing Luke Poland aud the cthrW
RuInaino neither Of whom has any connection win
the plot The lovely aud high-mndcd constance
10 tell the plain truth, IA prolii illg ana we
doubt whether any body viii munnur at the dspen-
eat On rf Providence which removed her from
woild for which she was quite too good. Even the
final improperly of her passionate ayoWal OF love
for married man whose wife Ia ut that moment
drowning alongside her. cannot reconcile us TO her
life of fripd and immaculate altruism. II Is pain
fully evident that Mr. Fawcett himself does not
care for her. any moro than he does for Pcnihyh
on Marion. He docs not describe th"so people from
within. lac hardly considers what such people would
naturally say or do in given circumstances; but
H. auryeys them from the outsido aud uRcs them M
convenience for the publication of icmniha. Not
being real to him. Of course they are not real 10 ms
Constance talks exactly like Mir, fHWcctl, but Ike
Mi fnwoctt IN those dull momcnts which fall even
o. tho cloycrcst men, Look at her letter to Ruthot
ford. No woman with soul nboyo dun" novels
could possibly hayo written such astted ana
lamboyant composition but Mr.. lRwcett, ON his
bad days, when lac Is making individual comments
upon his characters, writes in Just that style
II must be confessed that thc bad days seem to
have come pretty often dining the writing OF
rutherford 80, Tor this novel, which Is probably
Nr Fawcctts strongest and most ambitious III
design, is one of his most careless IN execution.
j. he were not a man OF so much talent and promise
we should say less about his literary faults; bat
when we think how easily he might correct his
errors of haste and mattenton, how fast some OF
his worst practices are becoming fixed habits, and
\ how much good buGht work lac Is reckessly
nj spelling, we cannot refrain from venting our veXa-
ton No novel will last, will even stand second
reading or hold place on the library shelves,
which is not written IN fair literary style. Now
Mr. Fawcctt has acquired some Of the elements of
Il good STYLE and with a very little pains he might
acquire the rest. lie often turns phrase with
epigammatc ncatuoss. His cpi,hcts are sometimes
extremely happy. He is yvacous. lie has n keen
sense of rhythm and variety. HIS writing sounds
well. But he bunder,, from sheer inattention, into
the strangcst misuse Of language, His commonest
fault is urgdty; his most Characteristic fault is the
marrying of ill-maed words. Two ideas present
themselves together ne hastily associates one
with noun and the other with an adjective, and
without stopping to think whether they will run
together lie joins them hap-hazard and throws upon
the paper phrase which may suggest his meaning
but does not express it. For instance when he says
that Constance. at dinner, talked d" with the man
ncr OF who means if Sic can help it, to leave few
uaiIable pausos," although we know what he is
thinking of, we should be puzzled TO define an
"unanable pause" or TO strai ghten the syntax Of
the paTenthetca If she can help it, So too, when
lie speaks of time moving 4" with the rapid smooth.
of free uprisen hope" il sQuite clear what was
Ill his mind. although rapid Is an adjective which
cannot qualify smoothuoss. When he represents
Constance as reused by her own asscrtive person
atty from tho influence of some inactive SPELL we
can guess at the meaning OF an "assertIye person
ahy" and we know that the inactive spell is not
an inactive spell AT all but spell which arrests
action. Mr.. Fawcett knows better than to write in
tins wild, slip-shOd, hitOrmiss way; and we
sure that II hc would read over his work slowly
before sending it to the printer, consider not only
the sound and suggestion, but the actual sense of
every phrase, and ask himself whether he had said
what he meant to say. he would be very much
astOnshcd at his discoveries By devoting to the
acquisition Of a correct English style the same
care which he exphnds upon the study Of society he
might take much higher place in literature than
he seems to be aiming at
We cannot dismiss Rutherford without pro-
test against pspersaying device of the publishers,