New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-12
French courts and camps whittier in earlier

French courts and camps whittier in earlier
times Mr. Weyman has conducted YOU.
Rut the interest is not less keen than amid the
other company on the whole. it is keener and
hotter sustained There is the clash If arms on
every page. Love and adventure contend win
each other till you are not quite sure whether
Won are the more concerned in tho unraveling
Of thu. tangled skein OF tn Countess affections
49, IN tho vicsstudes of the campaign of which
Nuremberg is the military centre. There are
no doubt. two plots and two pairs Of lovers, and
the interest is distributed which the orthodox
constructor of orthodox plots would have con
centrated on one Yet the reader would not at
any moment willingly part company with Mar
rim and Marie Wort nor could the fortunes of
the Countess have dispensed with either. Il
there he a personage not strictly essential to the
plot it is General Tzerclas but without him there
Nould be no adequate villain. nor such a study
of camp life and of military enterprise as Mr..
Wevman delights to paint and paints in glowing
coloIs.
The book is. in truth. one that hurres YOU
along so fast that there is not much time to
criticise You read il in A state OF VITA excite
mont from beginning 10 end. That. perhaps Is
the best account that can be given OF Mr. WeY-
mans novel or of any novel of pure adventure.
There. is character there is delicate portraituff
here and there. there is Landscape. and there Is
stage upon which all these living people move;
but the story's the thing. Novel readers. nine
out Of ten read for the story. and WILL there-
fore. read My Lady Rotha.
They will none the less become aware as they
read that they are in the hands of really &C
complished writer. If he is sensational II Is IN
the good sense, and his purely literary Gratis
mansbip Is Of a high order Where it IS less
.V,.ba Mr.
Weyman gives himself time and a fair chance
he never falls below his theme He has dignity
as well as animation. His characters speak the
language of actual life and not as the puppets
Of the stage The dialogue is easy. natural
pointed and never diffuse. for there IS through
out the art more often now TO be seen IN
American than in English writing. OF emitting
the uncssential one English critic goes 50 far
as TO bracket MY Lady Rotha" and "lvanho".
II is too far although in literary ar, and finish
and especially in style. Mr. Weyman need not
dread a comparison. But if the critic had been
content to say that since scott there has bseh
no better master Of the historical novel or TO-
nance than Mr. Stanley Weyman. ne WouI1
have found many. ! think a great majority OF
readers. to agree with him. That however. is not
the same thing as putting Mr.. Weyman on a
level with Scott.
Not many OF the publishers are issuing large
paper editions of this autumn'G new books. Tney
have begun to take warning from the apathy OF
the public. | asked bOoksellnS friend about
the state Of the market. His answer was en-
phatic Most Of the large papers which come
into the auction-r0Om fetch-nothing: or next -
nothing" When | noted the fact last year that
the windows Of the Pccadiy bookshops con-
tanned stacks Of these treasures at reduced
prices often nominal prices, sundry American
enthusiasts who had invested in SUCH wares pro-
tested But they must make up their minds to
hear that the market is getting worse. and not
better - W. :.