The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-08
OLD NOVELS.

In referring, the other day, TO the stimuli
taneous reproduction by the leading pub
fishers Of Charles Reade's "Cloister and
the Hearth" THE CALL drew attention
| to the drift of public taste toward the fiction
Of the past in preference to the :rifling
novels of the present day. The tendency
receives fresh confirmation from the an
nouncement that the novels of Fielding
and OF Miss BuTney are TO be brought out
In good shape.
People who are well read have enjoyed
both Tom Jones" and Joseph An
drewS"; no one who processes an &C
qnalntance with English literature can
afford to confess himself ignorant of
either. But it may be a question whether
copy of either is to be found in any book
store in San Francisco, and both have
long been practically out of print. Yet
they are both masterpieces Of humor and
pathoS; they are the best picture which
we nave OF English manners in the midd e
OF the eighteenth century; they are SUI
perlor in plot to most of the works of the
noVellsts Of the present century; they eX-
| hlbit subtle knowledge of character
which has been attained by few. If GER
tain passages are offensive to modern deli
cacy, ii must be remembered that they
were not open to criticism on that head
when they were written; in Fielding
own words the books were designed, such
as they were, to represent mankind.
Joseph Andrews was begun a parody
on Richardson's Pamela" but long be-
fore 1t was finished it rose far above that
dull and tedious work. twas pronounced
worthy of Ceramics. Tom Jones" is a
work of still higher grade. When it was
written, Fielding had been for some gears
police magistrate, which office had
brought him into contact with all kinds
and conditions of men. Like Dickens he
haunted low resorts to pick up traits of
character and odd phrases. Once when
he was wanted on the bench to try a case,
the messenger reported that bis Honor
was found Gin low alehonse with a blind
N an and three Irishmen." He was him.
self sot, Iibertine and corrupt Judge
But his mind was ripe, his perceptions
acute, his style easy and clear, and his
dramatic instinct developed by a long
course of writing for the stage.
Miss Burney, who is better known by
her married name of Madame D'Arblay,
was a contrast in every way to Fielding.
quo was d luUueols Qul6l, shy HUE BlTI,
who thought Paradise had opened to her
when she got The post of second Keeper of
the Queens robes. with charge of the royal
snuffDoX and lapdog, and a salary of
$1,000 a year. But she had remarkable
powers of observation and an instinct
i've sense of romance. Modern readers
will probably find 'Evelina" and See
ella" dull. They are nearly on a par
with "Clarissa Harlowe," which is prob
ably the deadiest novel in fourteen
volumes that was ever published. But
such high authorities in letters as DR..
johnson. Richard Brinsley Sheridan and
Edmund Burke pronounced her a genius,
and she made good deal of money for
those days by her books. Happily for Der
fame, she undertook at an early age to
keep a diary, and this was published In
seven volumes and still has a place in all
libraries.
If a judiciOus critic was asked TO pre-
scribe course of reading for young peo-
pie he would probably not include Eve
lima" or Cecilia" in the list. But he
might do worse. The reader of Miss
Burney's novels is like a person sitting
in gentle autumn breeze which watts a
feels no such emotions as a hurricane
arouse5; his pulse beats evenly and regu-
laIly, and there is no barrier to gentle
slumber. Whether this is or is not better
than the modern novel. which rouses fierce
emotions aud sets the passions tingling,
may be question.
The rule of the matter ia simple. Art
being invariable, there is no reason why
any preference should be given to contem-
p0rary works of art over works of for
mer date. The fashion in novels is un-
reasonable. If novel is good it always
has been good and always will be good.
1t is not easy to conceive that readers in
2050 will not read "The Newcomes" with
the same avidity as the readers of to-day.
Of course books are not like old port
they do not improve with age. a novel is
not necessarily readable because it ap-
peared 10 the last century. Thus the repub-
licatiOn of Miss Burney may not prove a
profitable enterprise. But there are good
books in the caves of the past which it
will pay to disinter.