New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-08-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
NEW NOVELS.


MRS KEITH's CRIME. Novel harper " Dr.
LADY LovELAcE. BY 2. j. fihhis i'p''
r,.r. IL mare literary merit In Mt. Fargnss last
torv than in the sensational bat very slight mover
. Scaled Back" which achieyedso incompfehe"''o,o
and altogether unmertod popularity ''"'y
Affair" shows marked advance in SIKH Oh coinlo-
siton and careful elaboration over any y, .n
authors previous work. and justi6es the belef tna'
had he lived he would have earned repn'a'on
better worth having than the meretr1cioas vogue
x~bicb came 10 him in so curious way lie hAs !"
"a Family Affair" invented pew stua'oh
No.hine can be fresher more odd than '"'
,a<aaoe Of Lakewood House, presided over os ~
stalwart bachelor brothers whp have uhuei '.'-ON
All tho multifarious duties OF houseNeer"s
mare love of the work. and WHOSE ie"',"
prorlvities have procured them the nc 50
nickname of 1.-The Tabbies" Inc cpaiao.
Herbert ard Horace peculiar out "ci' ''"u'o
aud the blending IN them OF the ieenpss "na
ef gentlemen and gentlewomen Is 10 "o''s -,
"a "a no very entertaining No stranger pair ''""
- ,.aa.a can ne found in fiction. yet there IL
,s,,ing air of naturalness about them so that tue
,,lsr feels n possible for such oddities 10 exist
xy,h Of, their oldmaidisnncss. too they are thor-
ougbiy estimable and If occasionally their Pa's'"
Tor neatness and methodcai living exc'es risi'.'-
a., il is impossible not TO resp CT then "S -
minded gentlemen Notwithstanding all tnen
eceoutricitcs The concealment OF De".''oo
Clausou's relationship to the little wan wnose
appe,rance at Lakewood House causes the i~io,''
brothers 20 much perplexity Is skiiiui' anu 'Ne
,I,ar,c,srs of Sarah Miller the haf-mad Calvinist
nurse Maurice Hervey. the villain OF the s'''s' "'u
Frank Csrruthers, the Oxford "coach' arc AZ
oarefaIlv and clearly drawn The catastrophe F"
.,siuly sensational but the author seems 10 nave
-, h,s ehararfers an 10 such difficulties that nOtlng
=. ,han a violent upheaval could have solved tue
problem.
.Nrs Keths Crime" while well written Is
Che most CHASTITY audi gruesome book we have seen
far a hong time IL is the story OF louhg mo.nei
.,,ddeuly widowed by an accident. aud left with
little boy and girl and very little to i've upon
The hoy is taken away by scsratna, ana soon
ae,ar ,he doctor tells her that the little girl has the
aee.,s of consumption in her system. and that ohy
transfcrence TO a warm climate eau save her'
lind lew gives her the means of gong TO Malaga
aud AZ an inn near there the scene is thenceior'h
Lard The dyamatis persOHae are nears all travellers
vhoae aeouaintanee she made at the Inn, but the
s,tarest of the story centres In the dreadful rae
...t ia rnn between her Mira Keith aud the child
Molly. They both have consumption ana ai'er
the ,nother has almost become reconciled 10 MoiYs
death she is Mortified 20 be told that she VIII go
lefore her daughter While this is going on ali the
travelers her friends and acquaintance, have
.,ne away one hy one and she and her child are
left alone In the dismal Spanish inn, with an I'M
sympathetic landady and hard and cold doctor
Tia agony Of the mother on realizing that sbo must
leave her dying darling In such a-stnation affords
opportunity for some powerful description ana ~
while frenzied with gries love and declining vital
power that the poor creature resolves to save Molly
the misery she fears for her by taking the child
with her. She has bottle of poison which she has
carried with her. The doctor has told her that she
herself can hardly survive the night. with her
last strength she poisons Der little child ana des
I'm despar and black horror in the Imagination that
her act has separa sea Der from Molly through
eternity The whole story is morbid but the
concluding pages read like the direst creations OF
nm opium debaucb and whose peruses them AT night
il cry likely TO suffer from nightmare aiterward.
There is much force in the story, which is anony-
NOUS and much power of observation and descrip-
t,on. But IL does not seem possible that IL could
nav. l,eeu written under normal or healthy condI-
tens and perhaps # the facts about its production
were known they would be almost as gloomy AS
the story itself AIRS Keith's Crime" is by no
means a common novel. bat it cannot be recon-
mended as light summer reading.
There seems 10 be arising tendency among
noyelists 10 introduce the " Camille" busin IS with
Anglo-saxon variations and attitudes. Consump-
fion as q mott has been oyerdone IN the past, but
the insdIous character of its advance doubtless
recommends the disease to authors who would not
nee their way to utilizing Asatc cholera or even
typhoid or typhus fever in the same way Lady
Ioyeacer is indeed generically speaking a
phthiscal novel; but it has the decided merit of
originality The heroine is of those marvellous
beauties VINO somehow never occur outside the
pages Of fiction. She was one of the wicked Great
ures who seduce ngsged from their allegiance.
She had already caused one promising young man
10 commit suicide and was blithely proceeding
with the ruin Of mother when she discovered that
she had only few months TO live. This IS another
peculiar effect confined to fiction. Nowhere else
do we find girls who can have consumption OF SO
raloping kind that It is warranted TO carry them
OF In six months, yet retain the most wonderful
scmbance Of perfect health until within a few days
of the end Yet this is the case with heroine.
Finding that she cannot live long, she determines
70 give a grand ball, and obliges convenient
rich uncle TO provide for her a magnificent yacht.
1t is her purpose, when she has shone in society
long as possible and before disease has changed
her to 20 Oh board the yacht sail away. and" the
rest is silence, This idea of the yacht is doubt
very STACEY. but il is certainly new business and
therefore the faded novel reader may approve of IT,
Mr. Black used the yacht seDulchre in Macleod
of Dare" but then he drowned bis lovers together.
In Lady Lovclace" there is no question of drown
ing and the heroine goes away alone, leaving her
lover to repent his nfatuaton and make a tardy
admission TO the girl he ought never to have
deserted This Is the Ango-Saxon version of
Camille. There is crude immortality about il IN
the French style. The wickedness is chiefly
intellectual Whether the modification makes it
wholesome is very doubtful. however. and we
inclined TO think that the consumption motif ought
by this time to he regarded as worn out.