The morning call., 1894-04-25
Is 1T TO BE A WOMAN?

IS 1T TO BE A WOMAN?
1t is just len years this month since the
death of Charles Resde left the primacy OF
Anglo-Saxon literature vacant. Marion
Evans George Eliot had died four years
and Anthony Trollope two years before.
Since then DO one has appeared who
seemed likely to take the place Of the mas
tiers of fiction who shed iuster on the
middle of the nineteenth century. 1t Is
now being asked whether the vacant
throne is not about to be filed once more
and once more by a woman-Mrs. Hum
phry Ward. There are readers of Mar
celia" who are prepared to maintain the
affirmative.
She comes honestly by her capacity to
write. Her grandfather was the Thomas
Arnold of Rugby whose History of
Rome" is familiar TO students. Her uncle
was Matthew Arnold. the poet. critic and
lecturer. Her father, Thomas Arnold.
was fellow of the Dublin University.
Her husband, Humphrey Ward. is enc OF the
editorial writer's of the London Times.
She began to write when she reached
womanhood, but her first novel was not
published until 1884 when she was 30. Out
side of the cultured circle to which she
belonged she was unknown till she pro-
duced Robert Elsmere" in 1888. This
woke Up the world to the fact that new
literary force had appeared; the book
obtained q circulation which rivaled the
palmy days of Dickens. Then followed
David Grieve," which main tanned the
authors reputation; and now comes Mar
CELIA" which the critics pronounce her
masterpiece, and beyond all question the
best work of English fiction produced dur
ing the decade.
Mrs. Ward is serious. not amusing. She
writes philosophy in the garb of fiction.
Robert Elsmere" was Il treatise On the
skeptical tendencies of the age; Mar
celia" is an essay on social reform. with
socialist tendencies. From her youth she
has been a profound thinker, and las
thrown the ardor of a passionate nature
into the struggle for the advancement of
intellect and the betterment OF society. In
this, as in her literary tastes. she has been
faithful to heredity. Her father was sent
to Tasmanis in charge of the schools con-
nected with the Church OF England. He
threw up his position to become Roman
Catholic Her uncle's honest endeavors
to adjust the religious chronicle to the
severe rules of modern historical criticism
are familiar to all readers. 1t is to him
that we owe the fgurative term Of "philis-
tine" Mrs. Wards own beliefs are only
known TO herself and her own circle. But
her position as a social reformer is public
She was one of the first ladies of social
rank to identity herself with the T0ynbee
Hall experiment She was one OF the
founders of University Hall, that mission
airy enterprise among the London poor
which has been the parent Of the college
settlements in this country.
"Marcella" is a vigorous appeal against
the remains of privilege in England. The
hero is a poacher who shoots a gamekeepsr
and is duly punished for the crime. He
serves as a peg on which the authoress
hangs philosophic theories of the rights of
man, and she expounds them with an elo-
quence and color which make the reader
catch his breath as he turns over page after
page. But there is not ray of humor ia
the book, nor q touch which relieves the
Intensity Of the narrative. She would not
be amusing if she could. and she cannot.
She is in dead earnest all through, and
nothing but her extraordinary power of
word-paipting relieves her book from the
charge of being dull.
AS work of art Marcella is splendid,
but it is grave art. 10 be admired with
sober, reyerential mind. The characters
are finely drawn, but they are grim. The
admiriDg reader yearns for something
which would cause smile, if not laugh.
Human life embraces levity as well as
seriousness; he who draws the world
without both will compose an incomplete
picture. That was the fault Of George
Eliot In some of her best books; the only
one which became generally popular was
"Middlemarch." in which she deferred to
human weakness by throwing In few
humorous characters and letting them
disport after their nature. It does not
appear that Mrs. Ward is disposed to be
SO Ienient to human infrmity. She treats
her readers as the old bsadle used to treat
the boys Of his congregation she will not
suffer any departure from the rule of dec
orous solemnity.
Still, for all that it is refreshing in these
days of "a Beginner" and Catherine
Lauderdale'' 10 find novelist who can do
really first-class work and whose genius
is such that she can make that which, in
L. -. Ia