New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-09-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

rsISSSysSs- 'isna pr. ss7. Henry hOls o.
~. .ase Of the anthor Of Princess" Is not an
.rssmmcn one. She wrote first novel because
.nn h,d something to say she writes second
,....,a she succeeded wish tho first sPrinoess'
Z. Nv no means 20 good as Its predecessor IL 10
dsscient In nearly all the fine qualities which
~ere so warmly praised by the critics Of
sObliyionn and IL is marked by some discouragng
faults. especially by tendency toward historical
sentiment. This. however. is not the worst thing
20 be said Of it. The subject Of the story Is divorce
and it is treated In the lax spirit which constitutes
the chief reproach of American civilization.
Princess Ia pet sobrqust for Miss Pocahontas
Mason) 10 a lovely girl who marries divorced man,
In spite of the dsspprovsl of her conscience; and
the offence is aggravated by the fact that Nesbits
iycroe from the first wife has been obtained
, privately aud through collision. because the
mismated pair did not suit each other and each
wanted to marry somebody else The arrangement
could hardly have been presented in more odious
form Princess and her best friends fully aware
of what can be said against Ii, and the author
sometimes states tho case for domestic purity 80
strongly that hoped. till the very last chapter
10 witness the triumph Of heroic virtue, ana tue
reward of manly, constant unselfsh, discarded jim
Byrd, who Is much finer fellow every way tnan
Nesbit, aud the very one to make Princess happy
But no. the young lady is argued out Oh nor
sscruples,r and when Jim. meeting her IN
church tells her not to mind him but I'd be happy
in ner own way, she hesltates no longer And the
author thinks il is all right. Something of her own
mind seems TO be reflected in the reasonings OF
p,;ncess's frlend Blanche, while Princess is still
obdurate IF you who are strong and large
minded" Blanche writes to the girls brother will
mt prejudice aside and think the matter out fairly
You will be obliged to that Pocahontas is doing
wrong. She IS killing herself and she is killing
him, and you ought not to let her do 1T. BE
generous and noble and large-hearsed, like God
means us all to be toward each other. 1t is awful
70 be so hard. Excess Of righteousness must be
snful-almost as sinful as lack of righteousness"
That Is the whole argument. Two people want to
marry one another very much indeed it would be
sinful excess of righteousness to let trife like
previous marriage and collusve Illinois divorce
stand IN the way of their indulgence. TIE position
Is still more grossly stated in the authors own
words Jim has just made his act of adhesion ; we
cannot call 1t remuneration, for he had no claims to
renounce: Pocahontas did not move abe scarcely
breathed. The spell of Jims magnanmity held
her made her realize at last the grandeur, the
immensely of love. Her soul was awed. Thought
followed thought through her brain; love In Its
simplicity was barred to her gaze self fell away
burned as dross in the fire of suffering; to guide
nerSeli was not enOugn, lupsU alu anu CouiiOiO
others If hands were outstretched in anguish, she
must clasp them: if heart cried to her in desola-
ton, she had no right to turn aside Was she so
pure, so clean, so righteous, that contact with
another soul-one that had known passions and
sorrows of which she was, OF which she must be-
ignorant-should soil her II So her Righteousness
was poor thing, her cleanness that of the outside
of the cup and platter her purity that of unquar-
ried marble"
We doubt whether this feminine sophistry can do
much 1t ought to strengthen respect for the
marriage bond TO see the poor suberfuges to which
they are driven who attack its sanctity in
sentimental novels. There is not trace of moral
principle in this book in place of 1t we have
gushes of sickly and sensuous emotion; and these,
we are made to understand, are the impulses which
ought to govern the world. Upon the whole,
Princess is so bad that rather inclined to
welcome it. Let us have the Great American Social
Ulcer laid bare in all its repuslyeness perhaps we
shall comprehend some day that it is time to cure
IL if wa