Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-06-01
Notices of New Books.


KATHARINE LAUDERDALE. BY F..
Marion Crawford. New York: Macmil-
Ian & co. Two volumes. 81.
Mr.. Crawford. although he turns out
regularly two novels each year. may al
ways be counted on to do good work.
and he has not failed in this instance
for those who like the kind Of work he
has done. The new volumes are new
departure" for Mr.. Crawford. Hitherto
he has been our leading romancist; now
he flies the banner of the realists Yer
satility is. however, known to be his in
a very eminent degree. and We suppose
that in this book he merely wished to
furnish another illustration of 1t. The
two volumes contain 6GS pages; the period
covered by the story Is five days; the
Characters are all members OF New York S
-Four Hundred" and the action takes
place altogether in that delectable city.
From these facts one may form an idea
of the skill of the author in writing a
story whose action is not slow and
whose telling is not dull, Notwithstanding
the mass Of minute analysis and micro
scopic description in which II Is clotheti.
But we feel bound to say, nevertheless,
that one volume would have been much
less Of a "misfit." Mr.. Crawford init
mates at the close that We shall hear
more OF his characters in the future.
II Is inferable from his remarks that
he may Intend to follow the examples OF
Dumas, Balzac, and lola. II this be So,
and he means to continue to make two
volumes cover only five days, and his
extraordinary productiveness continues to
a reasonably good old age, We may as
we'll begin TO add extra shelves 10 our
library.
katharine Lauderdale" Is, as said, a
story of high life in Gotham. Katharine
is the heroine, and very good one she
makes. She is young and beautiful, and
she loves John Ralston, her cousin, who
is not quite so young, is man-about-
town, and is very Objectionable to all his
relatives, except Katharine Of course, on
account OF his shiftlessness and growing
love of drink. Kathartne's parents OBJ
jecting to the marriage, she persuades
John TO marry her secretly, although, 10
do him Justice, he objected as long as he
could. They had no money. notwithstand-
ing that they were of the -Four Hundred
and nearly related TO Robert Lauderdale,
the multi-millionaire. The marriage ends
the first volume The second Is taken up
almost altogether with the description OF
a series Of curious adventures which befeil
John on his wedding-day Uhey were mar
ried early in the morning and immediate
IN separately, which furnish striking IL
nstration OF the danger sometimes OF
forming judgments from even the strong
est chain OF circumstantial evidence. The
chain around John was complete. and he
stood accused and convicted OF having dis
eraced the great Lauderdale family by
getting on monumental Jag" when
practically he had not taken a drop"
for three days. II was a case OF give
dog bad name" &c. This Is the main
theme OF the story--John and his Gags
and that It Ia not a very exalted one we
suppose that even Mr. Crawford will
admit; but Il is realistic" and is not
foreign 10 the -Four Hundred" and must
therefore pass. There are a plenty OF
other Characters however, and they are,
for the most part, natural and entertain
ing: they say things and do things, just
ike other society people. sre no better
and no worse, and furnish amusement for
the reader. as well as for each other.
We feel that we have written rather flip
pantly OF Mr.. Crawford's latest book,
but the reader need not suppose that we
mean 10 depreciate II. IL Is really clever
performance IL possesses its authors
well-knOwn graccs Of style: Is characters