New-York tribune., 1890-04-20
A NOVEL OF BABYLON.
LIFE IN AN ANCIENT CITY.

THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS. By Elizabeth
stuart Phelps and Herbert d. Ward. 16mo, pp' o24'
Houghton Mfiin Co.
Joint authorship under the most favorable
conditions is attended by special difficulties ana
dangers, but when it is applied to archaeological
fiction its peris are doubled and its chances OF
success proportionately diminished. Remembering
this, the feat accomplished by Mrs. Phelps Ward
and her husband in producing powerful and in
,eresting novel as The Master of the Magicians"
acquires unusual proportions, and deserves un-
stintcd praise Novels founded upon Biblical
narration, moreover, have seldom been successful,
that Of General Wallace standing out conspcuously
from crowd of failures, and broadly denoting
the high-water mark of success In this direction.
The main obstacle in this class of fiction has
always been the almost insuperabe difficulty Of
representing the action, manners. customs and
modes of thought of an extinct world so as to
bring the antique figures into anything like
vivid sympathy with the present; to individuaize
and give them natural life without undermining
them to the extent of hopeless anachronism.
Judged by these crucial tests the Master OF
the Magicians" must be accounted triumph of
ctive art, for the great city Of Babylon, in which
the scene is lad has been drawn with graphic
force which sets the whole magnificent Orientalism
Of the surroundings clearly before the reader;
while the men and women whose action is
portrayed are human beings of like pas
sions and weaknesses with ourselves. yet
differentiated skilfully and consistently in
accordance with the demands of their age and
environment
The authors have not been careful to adhere
strictly to the Scripture chronology. though they
have employed the Biblical chronicle freely The
descriptions of ancient monuments. such as the
d. <l> L., of Do1 $bo fam
Hanging Gardens ETC.. are modelled upon the
latest and most authoritative results of archaco-
logical research and discovery From Hercdotus
to Rawlinson, it is evident that there has been
careful and thorough study. and the effect of this
honest painstaking is picture of Babylon and
its life which even scholars may accept as not
transcendng possibility as representing, in fact,
the mighty city of the East very much as it
really may have appeared to contemporaries.
When we pass from the still to the active life Of
Babylon the verisimiltude of the story becomes
even more marked. The local atmosphere is re-
produced with marked fidelity the peculiar hard
ness and Immoral rather than immoral indiffer-
ence to suffering: the profound superstition Of the
PEOPLE, alternating with the cynical scepticism of
the few really enlightened men; the mingled lux
,iry and barbarism: and, above all, that old. al
most primitive tendency to tribal deities which
was accompanied by a disposition to renounce
impotent and to adopt exotic if powerful gods,
upon the mere supposition OF their tangible inter
position in human affairs. The episodes chosen
for illustration are such might well tempt an
artist in fiction. The time is that of the rise OF
the young Daniels popularity and power at the
court of King Ncbuchadnczzar. The Biblical ac
count Of the Kings dream, which none of the Baby
lonian astrologers and diviners could interpret,
is made the groundwork for a very striking scene
The King, even then touched by insanity. had
required that his soothsaycrs should not merely
interpret the dream, but describe the vision IL
self, on pain of death. The despair of the idol
atrous priests and diviners at this command is
we'll depicted. Even the best of them, Mutusa-ili,
who bore the official title of Master Of the Ma
gicians," and who really believed in the revela-
tions of the stars, though be had never with all
his learning derived any profit from his consulta-
lions of the heavens, feels at last the utter fu-
,ility of his calling. But this fine old man is
able to delay the Kings vengeance for time.
after the thousand magcians of the hierarchy have
ANONYMOUSLY failed, by practising boldly upon
the superstition of the Babylonians. 1t may pos
sibly be objected that his incantatons follow
rather too closely the famous sacred oracle"
in Bulwcr's Richelieu" but to this it may be
said that the drawing of magic circles for pro-
lection and Inhibition can be traced back at least
es far as the Akkedians, and surely that is war
rant enough for these authors. Young Daniel
comes to the rescue, as in the Biblical story, and
saves the condemned magicians by telling the
King his dream and by interpreting it, whercupon
Nebnchadnczzar, deeply impressed, halls the young
Hebrew captive as the true Master Of the Ma
eicilns.
Queen Amytis is q conspicuous and picturesque
figure in the romance. Beautiful, caprcious,
cruel, there is more of the wild animal in her
than in even her imperial spouse. As foil u
her appears Lalitha, the lovely and pure daugh-
ter Of AIutusa-il, who is beloved by Daniel
secretly, and openly courtcd by military officer
Of the true heathen type. splendid, handsome,
dul-witted, but loyal and capable of any daring
feat It is TO him that Amyts owes her strange
and dreadful death, in fulfilmcnt of prophecy
OF Daniel that she should die between heaven
nnd earth" The wicked Queen loves Allit, the
officer referred 10, and therefore pcrsecues poor
little Lalitha, and this persecution affords the
opportunity for another impressive scene,-the
kidnapping of Lalitba. and her consignment to
crazy boat set adrift on the river Euphratcs in
that part of its course which flows between the
walls Of Babylon. The picture of Lalithas mid
night exposure on the dark. crocodic-infcstcd
Wdtfrs, OF nPT crazy cId1t WHiIIcu eWliby uOWu
between two walls rising sheer fifty feet either
hand, of the vain efforts TO rescue her, and of her
final dclivcrance by Dancl-is a very strong
piece of writing. The conception of the prophet
himself is line. and the Hebraic elements in his
character are well delincated. The intense ex-
oltation and fcrvency of his religious feelings
the mystical side OF his nature which fits him
especially for the functions of seership, the lofty
gravity and unhesitatng confidence with which
he proceeds upon bis fundamental doctrine of
Jchovah's mmeasurablc supremacy, together with
his thoroughly human but nobly restrained love
for 'I4alitha combine 10 make character as
fascinating as it is rare and imposing
In the course OF the narrative King Nebuchad-
nezzar's insanity is described naturally, in such
manner as TO bring the Biblical account Of his
eating grass like the beasts of the field into con-
sonancc with modern science. According TO the
author of THE Master OF the Magicians, the
K;po sufYered from sopcips 0f "buiimia. in