New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-04-01
MARCELLA.
MRS WARDS NEW NOVEL.
MARCELLA BY Mrs. Hump pf vs WaT1 :" Mac.
'i Volumes octave. PIP. Az 49, Ne" io'"
milan & Co


milan & Co.
o,, rove, bv Mrs. Ward Is approached with
confident expectations OF al ie"st wv =,
original power and didactc point VI Wv
,,,'aa,,a, ,bore are evidences OF the creative
oenius which was visible In us preuecesSo''
h,, unlike either Robert Elsmere" or 'DaV'd
cr,ove" this new book Is primarily love story
- :, ,s = love story such as Mrs. Ward alone
-. could write The reader Is aware Oh
49,. ,i,,io romance in the usual sense OF the
-, u,oua, IN with the narrative are the
threads Of intellectual discussion which Mrs'
Ward never willingly abandons' ana the'e 10
nearly as much politics as sentiment III inc
-, p.s,hr,, there ia more But It Is politics
,,a,,cod 40 an element in Marcellas develop
,,or,. tho sentimental interest preponderates'
1 tho berolne remains first and last the
horo,,o ~ a love story she differs from the
o,,o, ~ familiar romance in some OF the OUT
,.ord conditions and events Of her life' out not
IN tho essential points Of her growth She be-
Gins nv falling I'm love with mission She ehus
~, realizing that her mission Is love-
we are the creatures OF hcredlty, Mrs. Narn
,ss,,,os She proceeds then upon the hypothesis
,ho, horodi,v ia in turn the creature Of circum-
stance. of environment, of the play OF forces
which Ito dormant in u.s. perhaps but are only
s,,rred n action by influences which shape them
as thev hiring them forth. In this spirit or anal
vsis is the history Of Marcella Boyce written
The nroof Of Mrs Wards artistic gift lies IN the
warmth even the passion Of her analysis. Mar
cola emerges from a tangle Of intellectual argu-
rnents a thoroughly human figure. peculiar
uninue like the best Of Mrs Wards few women
beretofore and imparting to the book, through
her strenuous nature. an almost painful tension
Her nortrait ia drawn with n realism which MIS-
Ward has not hitherto surpassed In concentTa-
ton is the test of an authors art and long as
this novel is II is still remarkably compact
The canvas is smaller than that OF DaVlu
GrIeye" the persOnages are fewer. the coioIS
are less varied and the issues. for all thelr So
lemnity in certain episodes, are felt 10 DC less
momentous. The unity of the design Is "d''i
tanned intact. the touch is the touch OF mastery,
and the beauty Of "Marcella' is only equalIed
bv It's truth Mrs. Wards diction is unaffected
and it is animated by an exquisite sympathy
for the objects OF her thought. The result Is d
viyidness Of presen,ment which insures atten-
ton from the very first page. A great 'deal OF
the charm Of "Marcella' springs from Its treat
ment of Miss Boyces ancestral background
the Tudor mansion fallen into neglect Out sui
magnificent. its old English garden, the family
church with It's SepulCHTdl HlOHuihcH'' NN'N"N
ING innumerable Boyces the neghborinS great
houses of the county, the fragrant lanes ana
ieaIouglv guarded woods, and finally the social
strata forming parts Of the whole. None OF the
details over which the author fingers is trivial
for while she responds to all that Is sensuously
beautiful and picturesque in the spectacle, she is
sensible also of the subtle ter-communicauon
between the surface and the depths. between
uarcelIas surroundings and Marcellas soul.
The secret Of Marcella's interesting experience
& tho conflict between her position in life and
her natural instincts. The child Of high-oorn
HIT disgraced father. Of a mother whose suffer-
Ings under her husbands egotism have dned
IN many Of her natural affections at their
source. Marcella passes her school days among
strangers who give her only ftfully and acci-
dentaIlv the love she Graves. She enters upon
life with a sense of sOrdd restrictions and con-
tinual neglect with sense that things are not
the same for her as for other girls. The two
wears she spends living independently In Lon
DON studying art and associatng with young
Bohemans of Socialistic enhusiasms. feed her
vanity and her self-pity for the past, and awak-
en- her to a nearer consciousness OF the Ire
about her in the present. At this point her re-
formed scapegrace Of a father inherits Melior
Park and she comes to the comparative luxury
and positive distinction Of that estate, to ma
herself snubbed because OF her fathers past mis-
deeds. and held at arms length by mother VINO
will give her everything but spontaneous love-
1t is this situation that constitutes Mrs Wards
point of departure. II is perfectly obvious that
she will carry her heroine through many
scene Of headstrong. impetuous collision with es-
tablished customs and manners crude girl
of twenty-three, stormy in temper, burning with
a sense Of the social injustice under which she
and others have suffered and still suffer, imper-
GUS in the possession of a stock of incendiary
ideas imbbed with the eagerness OF a generous
spirit from other youths all ardor and impa-
tence-a girl like this could not possibly escape
friction in environment of conservatism and
class prejudice. Marcea comes In contact with
the game laws. with the sanitary evils that
often disngure the lower life of the English coun-
tryside She meets the servility Of the villagers
and the farm laborers with hot tumultous In
dignatlon-in season and out OF season-that
causes her to appear a very miracle OF care
lessness and bad manners. Yet it Is just here
that we are conscious of Mrs. Wards sagacious
demonstration at once of the power of heredity
and the spell which circumstances throw over
the character of the individual.
woman with gentle blood running in her
veins, with blood derived. moreover, through
some old marriage In the Boyce family. from
ITALY, Marcelas destiny is marked from the be-
ginning to be swayed by racial instincts If rot
by the conventionazed impulses Of the class to
which she belongs. Hating landowners and all
the tyranny and injustice involved, according to
her view, in their reign, she nevertheless says
to Adous Rdeburn early In the book: II love
the laborers for touching their hats to me. I
love the school children for bobbng to me. |
love my very self-ridicuous you may think
it-for being Miss Boyce of Mellor." 1t is a pc
culIar crisis that sends Marcea to nursing in
the slums of London. catastrophe between her
lover and herself. and the combination Of this
with other untoward events. rather than an IT.
resls;ible hunger for the work. This we say
Il Of the Of hnr al