New-York tribune., 1885-08-14
NEW NOVELS.

n, u.
AN oLm puys - a. iBoston: Houghtcn, Miniin Coz
,,vuprAcV AND OTHER STORIES. by WALTER
BEsAkT Harper Brothers)
The clever anthor of Wearing Of the Green
hos more than confirmed the general opnfon Oh M
ahiiity which that story justified In "Coeuo.'o'
Conouestr This is a novel so satisfactory III a" ~.
spects that it could only have been writ'en " aA
author OF ripe experience and far more .nan -,
dinary power. Used as every modern noVe'.i'
must be TO rawness aud immaturity Oh jaosoon'
in story-writers, which too often render tne" nv
erarv ambition an offence and an imperflnence. IL
Is with mingled relief and pleasure that sucha
ovs, ne this is received The story itself is by no
means intricate or sensational but while the plot
&. scarcely mere elaborate taan one Of Trollopes.
The development is so artisticaly easy and natural
and the action and ut.erances OF the characters are
40 fitting and ifelike, that the interest never nags
The coouette is a thoroughly selfish heartiess
beauty. the daughter of an English pro-
yiucial vicar and is contrasted with o sistef "no
is as sweet aud unseifish as Lucy Is VAIN sno
egotistic The progress of the coquetfe from oao W
worse her entanglement with magnincen' yooHe
hbertine ofthe Guy Livingston type, ana her re'0"0
nv Rowan her former lover whom she mas thfomn
over with Characteristic indifference 10TH '"o
maiu thread of the story. But tne 'a'',c "nu
scandal of the little Yorkshire town, the lud'crous
maid whe thinks she is setting everything TO rights
when she is really promoting domestic quarreis auu
causing calumny TO spread and flourish, tosetncr
with the brilliant sketches of the parish counci'
whose Law members want to control ever! 'hihs 10
cause they subscribe to pay the salary Oh an eA."
curate furnish continual opportunities 1or the us
plav of an ability which rises occasionally almost "
the level of George Eliot's. The opening chap.er'
describing a ruri-decanal meeting, hela lor 'no
criticism of clergyman who has written wnat Is
regarded as an heretical work. the discovery pe'hg
made after some hours of denunclation thae none
of the critics have ventured to read the work tney
have been condemuing, Is full OF Dy no means
unkindly humor. Many passing comments on ma
tional habits and customs indicate clearness oi
scbt and disposition to go to the root of the mat
Ter very refreshing in these days of namDy pam-
byism in English nove-writing Ihe stuuy Vi
Iucy's character is very clever, aud that Oh MARY
only less so. while Miss Ripple and her aliies anu
croncs are only too familiar to every one. III must
be said that Rowan's transfer Of his affections iroh
one sister TO the other Is hardly LED up 10 SUM-
GENTLY though on this point there Is room ior
difference of opinion. The vicar Is vigorously
and symmetricay drawn but disagreeabe person,
vet he is necessary to account for Lucy. vi
course the latter finds her nemesis where she ex-
pected her triumph, and her fate is an awful
warning against many feminine faults which nm
bappily have hitherto appeared quite unapproach-
able by didactic methods.
Miss Phelps has written very pleasant nttie
sumner sketch, called An Old Maids Paradise.
1t is the story of such an one who was minded 10
build herself very modest and cheap little cottage
by the seaside. She had but $500 toinvest in archl-
lecture and OF course there were all xmas
of difficulties. The story tells how these
1,,x ofu01 01fx- he
cottage grew into habitable place, how the pro-
prietor furnished and occupied it, aud what kind
of life she found there BY the sea. 1t is all witt
ten in light easy. charming style, decorated, as
one NAV saw here and there with bright bits OF de-
scription, and pervaded throughout by the saline
odor of the ocean, the warmth of the summer sun,
and the freedom of vacation time in an unsophis-
ticated Massachusetts, fishing village. The old
maid is delg ghtful old maid though she perhaps
ought to have known something more about dogs,
and should have shown more appreciation OF their
sterling qualities. The episode of the disappearance
of Matthew Arnold, however. and his subsequent
return as gift from another person, is very funny
and very we'll done. In fact the book, though sea-
sonably slight is full of life and SPARKLE breezy,
graceful and enriched by vein of tender womanly
feeling The outline sketch of the fishing commun-
ity, used to sudden gaps amoag their bread-win-
uers caused by disasters at sea, and the patient
practically of their humble. sorey tried lives, is
full of this and it gives certain weight and force
to the little story, which for all its freshness and
pleasantness is well worth reading.
Mr.. Walter Besant's stories, whether long
short are sure to be interesting and to have good
work in them. He is perhaps the only living
Engshman who can write short stories as COM
plete and well proportioned are the best Ameri-
can short stories and this is the more remarkable
because his novels a rule very good. In this
volume are collected three stories, Uncle Jack,
"Sir Jocelyns Cap" and "A Glorious Fortune;
and they are all fresh and regards the
central idea. "Unce Jack" sets outlike the con-
ventional stories of mysterious ong-iost relatives
suddenly turning mp with immense fortunes, but it
soon appears that Jack is anything but the con-
yentional uncle. This story we imagine would
dramatize we'll with little alteration, and 1t is
well furnished with droll situations and sterling
characters SIR Besant says that he is indebted
70 Mr.. Walter Herres Pollock for the concepti on
which underlies " Sir Jscelyn's Cap" The subject
is certainly an unhackneyed one. 1t is an adapta-
tion of the Oriental myth Of djinn. who were
slaves of some ring. lamp other article possessed
by mortal. Here we are presented with the queer
conception of an ancestral spirit, who has served
20 long as the slave of cap that his
faculties are wearing out. The consequence is that
he is no longer able to obey the commands
of the owner OF the magic cap completely. He does
his best but his wits enfeebled and he commits
q number Of astonishing and disastrous blunders,
plugging his master at length into sea of troubles
The idea of the decrepit djinu is well worked out
and the story amusing. "a Glorious Fortune" Is
the story of of q weak, unstable fellow, who runs
away from nagging wife in London and goes to
America, where he drifts finally into desolatc
ranch in Oregon. and there solaces himself with
whiskey. Meantime he has been writing regularly
TO little daughter left behind. telling her of an
l.aa Ia A L.: