The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-02-02
THE NEW ENGLISH NOVEL.


 Nea York Corr. Cincinnati News Journal.
 All the literary critics on both sides oi the ocean are dlsputlng just now about the authorship of the new English novel. The Millionaire The hero is Mir. lay Gould. Not that the most prominent character in the book bears that name. bu, because the incidents Tn the life, and the personal description, of Mr Dexter File. the millionaire. coincide exactly with those of the great American nnan- cier The cable brough, Us the news last Sunday that It was reported in London that .he author was MT. Louis ]. jennings. who was editor of the New York Zfpiss during the reign and fall of the Tweed nng. and who then returned 10 London and was, until last spring, the London correspondent of the Ho,M. see many things in The Millionaire trities light as ar, which lead me 10 believe that MT. Jennings was not the author. There arc small events in the life of ay Gould. which have happened since NIT. Jennings left the city, fully described in the pages of the new novel-events of which Lon doner would not be likely to know, bu, WHICH WOQlQ DC olQ taiOS to h 4NCW lOt6 editor Moreover. the writing, except in places, is not in Mir. Jennings style, but il IS peculiarly the style of another New Yoya: ed,iar ~hn las heen in England all summer, and who. before his departure, was on terms almost of intimacy with lay Gould. mean Ar. W. H Hnrlbert. He of all writers knows most about the millonaire's methods and ideas. To my mind the book IS the joint production of ME. Jennings and MT. Hurlbert The description of the English scenery and short paragraph al the conclusion of the first chapter about ghos, haunted old hall recall the formers writing m Ram bles in Southern England but the clever sententiousness ofDeNter Files utterances Is peculiarly the style ofa Hayhf editorial under the old management. ennlngs and Hurlbert were intim ate friends, and their copartnership was only d renewal of rela- tions which had begun on this side of the water. Again the book deals very kindly with lay Gould, and makes his character no, only es,imable. but almost lovable i; now. if there Is any writer who $ under ,s debt of gratitude to ly Could. |, Is surely W. H. Hurlber,. There are some things kilC OoOA W thO iNNsNNSiS HNiC 4t. New York have not noticed. some three or four incidental characters age evi- den.iy meant for llttle sketches ot an derhil,, keene. Daniel Drew. and others. Of course. when the noveis, speaks oi Dexter tile's grea, hght with the Callfor- mia giant, we know immediately that he means i'm keene. Two New York fam flies are alluded to a, the beginning of the eighth thapter in this way
 Everybody in New York knows that Dexter File was one of the riches, of its in habi,ants. Some people liked 10 say that he was the richest of ali; but then they chose to forget for the moment the for tune of the Nandervoor family, which, al- though it had been growing for couple of generations. already reached colossal proportions, 10 say nothing of the riches amassed by the l'an Toffs of the genuine knickerbocker stock. The Van Tofts lived Tn large, old-fashioned house sur rounded by garden. on second ave nue.
 Ii tor Iandervoor you write Wander bilt, and for Van Totf. Stuyvesant, you will have the real name. The S,uyvesant mansion or Second avenue, exactly as 4CSAliOC4 atOhC- io NNhAthS4 " tAN family. In the fifth chapter the late Dan iel Drews picture Is drawn as follows
 This worthy man belonged 10 the Methodist persuasion, and consequently possessed greA, advantage over most of his fellow spectators. His connection trusted him implicitly for was he no, one ofthemseives; had he not given large sums of money toward founding new college :: They trusted in him and he, in the ordI- nary and legitimate course of business, turned their pockets inside out and lef; them 10 marvel over the guile which is in the heart of man. Yet Nathaniel, in his turn, was brought up to be sheared :: he was expert, bu, the :. Skinner was too much for him.
 Half dozen Wall stree, men might have set for the portrait of Skinner, and so will give them the bench, of the doubt and not say that It IS picture oi any one. Here is little reminder of the famous credit mobilier scandal:
 The famous case of the Late Colonel Poshkosh, who en- joyed for some time the distinction of being the :" war horse of his state. He was a member of congress, and made or unmade men faster than Warwick made kings. One day the spotless name oi Poshkosh was found entered in a little memorandum book kept by the agent of a company who had been proved guilty of bribing half of congress, and by the side of the name were the figures s7s 900. The colonel. who was famous for his smile, smiled more vigorously than ever, and tried to pass the whole thing oil as a capital joke. But the joke was too much for him. The memorandum book @knocked him." as he said, higher than \ kite.n Hit had not been for