Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-29

READERS AND HoMANCEs,
Andrew Lang DaintiIy Responds - shs -
perior Modern Critic.

perior Modern Critic.
Andrew Lang in the Pail Mall Budget
In stray number Of the Pail Mall Ca
zette. which drifted to the remote Glen
hens. L read an article on the decadence of
romance. 1t seemed TO berthe manifesto OF
the young. or, perhaps. was an example OF
the Inquire known TO rhetoricians as irony.
At all events. We were Informed that this
upstart generation" children of some
twenty-five years OF age. despise the novels
OF Disraeh. of Lytton: that they think Mr.
Dickens bourgeois. Mr.. Thackeray "a nice
old gentleman" who pleased himself with
the delusion that he was a cynic; Mr.. Be
SAINT and Miss Braddon were dismissed
with sneer, and generally one gathered
that the young are extremely superior and
that new gods are crowned in the city" OF
letters. All this, as 1 said. may have been
,, @roSe Sarcastic" 60 quote an oesole.e
appears TO represent the real beliefs of some
young persons.
Let me not be supposed to regard the
opinions OF the young with a morose indif-
ference. 1 appeal from twenty-five to nftesa
and ind that the taste of fifteen is true TO
Kingston and Ballantyne the brave
And Cooper OF the wood and wave.
and to other and more recent ROMANTIC
writers. II is possible that fifteen and fifty
are right. and that twenty-five is "a Trinity
Sniner, or even a sniffe- whose education
has not been conferred at that ancient and
IL Mr.. Dickens was a bourgeois what
pray are the rest of US, who prabble about
books? We are neither marquises nor arti-
sans; we are just the more or less intellec-
tual middle classes. In the works Of Dick
ems. as Of every one, there is much of the
temporary, the caduc, much OF the mans
own generation 1t was merrier. and,
perhaps. not less wise generation than
our own. 1t is the presence of this acci-
dental e element (and The readers own lack
o. Iun) Which stands between Mrs. Camp.
MI. Squeers. the immortal Pecksniff on one
slde and our superior persons today. This
Is the secret OF their indifference TO Dick
ems. Inackeray. Scott and i dare say, TO
CerVantes and lie Sage They are entirely
immersed In the IDEAS and expressions OF
their own generation.
Whatever is earlier than M. Guy do
Maupassant is out Of touch with them
Ihey sheer at Thackeray, they have no
eyes for Beatrix Esmond; they are proud az
being Indifferent TO Mrs Rawaon Graz
| ley. These ladies are passes In the optu-
ION OF proud moderns. who really move In q
kihd OF log, who cannot enjoy any human
character or human experience which h.
not draped in the costume of TODAY Even
NJ. lola has become rocco: his first fifteen
| novels or 50 are secuted es Historical
| novels, things OF a sort long out OF oate
| 1 Know not N these adorers OF the modern
| nave any uncture OF classical literature II
/ cydides
As a rule they talk and write about M.
Sa.ure not more than ten years old.
Stendhal Is on their horizon in the past;
| m the present (settine a few French and
| Muscovlte authors aside) j really do net
f hno" Wnom r 1hey admire u IL is Mr.; Kip
| the most old-fashioned taste: he Continued
! IN a modern way, the ancient tradition OF
| story telling. 1 forgot Mr.. Meredith, an
author whom readers OF taste applalded
before this age INBRED" was born But
even Mr.. Meredith. with all his merits 10
are not bad because he is good II is plain
| that much of this DISTINGUISHED author's
\ WORK, like that OF his elders and betters.
l nNlfinV ~ 4H.a. 49,.
moment is the present.
| The mistake, or misfortune is TO think
that the new and good makes the good and
| Old of no value; eclipses and Gusts H. To
conceive this is the error of narrowness of
limit, of intellectual provinciahsn. II
maintain that there can be- no interest in
| the story Of a dun life lived by a plain
girl Thus. In Mr.. James Washington
| a plain girls dull existence But IL ia not
good because the girl is dull and plain, any
MOI more than The story Of Diana Vernon .
Not the ingredients. but the genius OF the
| author makes the merit of a novel
LEI. lei ne superior modern often seems 70
| while the romantic must be bad. There IL
| no such distinction in the nature OF art; to
Ignorant slaves Of a trsnsito S1 fashion on.
| Absorbed in the ideas and tastes Of a gem
Grafton, thinking their good absolute, .
| critic forgets that his idols, too must fade
and be dethroned. In ''vingt Ans Apres"
| one Of the heroes saws: princes ana
| cardinals pass Ike q torrent, the civil war
| like a flame. but we shall endure" And
endure they do. by mere essential human
| vigor of character. But the modern critic
| Will assure us that Dumas IL obsolete
Obsolete for whom For whom are
Scott. Dumas, Thackeray obsolete? Not
for the world of readers, OF those who oc-
cupy Themselves with books for human
pleasure" The very practical test OF the
book market proves that point The great
writers OF the past are only obsolete for
he Of ho g.. H.. n
Cas far as the people read books). nor for
men Of letters. II indifference TO what
makes us seniors happy IN Vanity FAIR, "
in 'Old Mortality" IN Martin Chuzzle-
wit" nay. in The Last Days OF POM
peii." or in "Barchester Towers" be Incl
dent to youth we are fortunate who were
young in an elder day.
We are not deprived Of the pleasure
which Richard Feverel" or "Silas lap
ham," or ''GerTntnal' or II. Anarole
Frances beautiful tale, Ia Messs des
Ombres" can give. But we have also
great stores OF enjoyment which the young
deny that they can taste; I'm the night
turn, bringing his sheaves with him." in
the fight of Mazarin with Porthos and
d'Artagnan; in the journey OF Jeanne
Deans; in q dozen modern books which
the wise youths only mention with q
sheer but which are read for all that. The
| wise youth of today does not seem wise
enough to enjoy himself in letters beyond q
He is vocal. but he is not everybody, nor
does he speak for everybody.
| Romance ts not decadent but some read
| ers and writer's are decadents, and proud
| of the title as the living skeleton said when
they showed him" O|eller).