New-York tribune., 1894-04-08
AN ENGLISH AMlEL.
THE FAMILIAR LETTERS OF THOMAS LoY-
ELL EEDDOES

A fatal vet almost unavoidable defect OF the
tr,,fv .crtt,cal temperafnent is that its hardest
blows and its sharpest weapons are reserved ior
its unhappy possessOr. He Is ike the rusty
sword Of Hudbras that ate into Itself Tor lack OF
something else to hew and hack. II the "oih
of others meets only now and then his grudglhS
nraise how rnucn worse IS IT with his own writ
ings over which he drudges with endless uis
satisfaction? He has thoughtof perfection which
he can never realize. and. as he tolls on sentence
by sentence. his critical self seems at times like
another person scanning the written page line
hy line marking here and there the defects. ana
constantly reiteratng: Nov, can't you see why
YOU fail? Your nature is lacking AT this point
and this point You haven't formed thorough
idea Of your own poTers. That is the reason
why You are always touching matters that are
beyond your grasp" AS in Hamlet, the prince
OF critics, so in all his followers, effort Is All
but palsed by haunting doubt There never
was better example Of this defect than Thomas
Lowell Reddoes. The very fact that he mad an
early success seemed to friGhten him ever after
ward How long he worked over his posthumous
tragedy Of Deaths Jest Book" it would be
hard to tell certainly more than score or years
with long intervals Of hopeless meditation; and
vet when the end cane he was no better sauS-
fed than he was with his first draft of it. He
other. until at last in sheer helplessness, he ex-
claims in one Of his letters to his steadfast frend
Thomas Forbes Kelsall: II do not know whether
have written to you about song writing II Is
almost the only kind Of poetry Of which nave
attained a decided and clear critical theory
He dilates upon the theme with the interest oI
one who had just come upon hoNeiN' nc
notes how difficult II is "to write song with
ease tenderness and that ethereal grace whlch
YOU find" among theold dramatists-Shakespeare'
Herrick. Sucking and others. But at another
time IL was this very matter OF song-wrluhS
which put him in doubt. and we ma MN VIII
ing to Proctor Barry CornwalD that he would
write more songs If he could. but adding: Il
can't manage rhyme we'll or easily. very sell
dom get glimpse Of the right sort Of idea in the
right light for song; and eleven out or the
dozen are always good for nothing He eX-
cused his delay with the revision Of a work al
ready practically completed by accusing himself
Of idleness and carelessness, which were due to
a shreWd suspicion that he had no real poet
ical call" At another time he convinced hm-
self as he wrote to Kelsall, that he was essen
TALLY unpoetic in character. habits and ways or
thinking The mere fact that he could not make
up his mind was on occasion adequate PROOF mat
he was without fitness for the task he had under
taken If he had possessed the conviction that
he could by any means become an important
dramatic writer then, Of course, it would nave
been impossible for him to swerve from mat
path to reputation. Now he finds that he has put
in too many songs "and two Of them are pad'
somewhat Moorish and sentimental; and again
he thinks of remodelling the whole structure
Of the play. whereupon his resolution evapora tes
in a clever essay upon the proper way In when
a drama should be constructed. Then he con-
fesses that he has really begun little to alter
"the Inflated play in question: He inquiries
what his correspondent would say 10 drink
tnp-song al the end of the second act, and he Is
about to copy It with a depreciatory comment
but suddenly hesitates. "On second thoughts
he exclams 81 will not bore you with II. IN
deed 1t Is utterly useless TO send You anything
for you always forget to criticise and abuse
properly, which it is the duty Of every friend
to do as long as the confded piece remains in
manuscript" If his friend had been duly crit
ical he would have seen how stupid and super
fuous almost all the second act is. how common
nlace the second bridal song in the fourth act
He asks Proctor. Bourne and Kelsal to pass
upon the manuscript with Il view TO publication
his absence in Germany being, Of course. the eX-
cuse for the request He honestly thinks that he
wants it sterny and rigidy criticised He even
has an idea-wrong, Of cOurse-as 10 where the
flaws are which his friends will pick. There IS
some wretched comic part in it," he tells kel'
SAIL (which cannot improve no" give up The
conversation might be improved. ne imagines
"My cursed fellows in the Jest BOOK Wouio
palaver immeasurably and | could not prevent
them" But another time he will do better-tha'
is If people pay any attention 10 this piece anc
make It worth his while to write again If the
proposed publication exc.tes no notice he vii
conclude that he is no writer for the time anc
generation The play is too long; the first act Is
q reminiscence Of his own earlier work. the sec)nC
is dull and undramatic but the others are better
though there is weakness in the second scene ant
the beginning of the third scene OF the fourtf
act. Thus he endeavors to forestall the criticism
which he has invited But he finds that he has
not OWNED the objections which Proctor make
TO the drama and he soon asks TO have specific
the scenes and larger passages which should b'
erased for he Is not sure that he catches th
meaning OF his mentors criticism "Of the three
classes OF defects which you mention" he writes
sobscurity conceits. and mysticsm-~1 am afrait
/ am blind to the first and last, as may be sup
posed to have associated a certain train OF idea
TO a certain mode of expressing them, and m!
four German years may have a little impaired
my English style: and to the second l am alas
a little partial, for COwley was the first poenca
writer whom learned to understand" That Il
10 say in plain words the censuTe does not NEE
his views at ali; and yet he wants more OF IT, 10
he goes on TO specify the places which he think
his friend would point out for rewriting. II
thinks Kelsan is right about the disagreeabl
elements in the persons Of the drama: but h
cannot help their being monotonous. for humo
and the power OF depicting character. Two thing
absolutely Indispensable for a good dramatst, ar
the two first articles in my deficiencies" The
comes period Of silence and perhaps disgust
for Kelsal wakes the dramatist to a memory o
hts work only to learn that everything about III
play annoys him. that ne has utterly neglected
and has not the slightest inclination to take an
further trouble in the matter. After another in