New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-11

~ g., tho of,nr You puzzle with him over
his ingenious devices to make his is'ahu moi %
liable You grow GREATNESS Win cui' ...s,,c
nho, NIL, turn no next There is nothing ia"'"s..
""". w" =, sra,rs which you meet on every
600. Tho shock OF finding the famous foo'pi'"' o'
,he heacb is unaccompanicd by any sucn ieenns 90
belones to the Gothic inventions OF man Inv 80
At tho most picturesque moment OF ''" 49, wor,d
van feel that he is the best company j" .''o ,.h
without eccentricity. without sophistica"om' ~,
out ANYTHING literary In his compos'uo" - h,,,
"a uterature II ever book OF adventure was w.
:, 10 art,ess I'm n rare degree. This aruesS"e'' "
the expression OF Defoe's whole cnaiao'e -,
writer Put aside the complexity OIL h'' 49, -.
literary relations IT has nothing 70 10 WIN ~
fibre OF his romantic prose- u 'e"'
simplicity Of his narratives. ,,,,
,, ,,,Lon has given us thus far half the result
~ HE edi,or,l labors Three Of the eight volumes
before us are devoted to his author 1"as'ep
Then follows THE History OF the LIE anu -
ventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell with TWO "''.o'
nieces on apparitlons bringing up the emu Vi .e
hook Campbell was a quack. we are rain 70 pc
I,oo y, h,s distance OF time and certainly Defoes
celebrat ton OF him portrays Caghos"o y" 80.
way Yet even In this curious record winch 'e
easily have been sufused with metaphysics '"po''
Detoe is as vivid as tangible. as much the STORY
teller as on Juan Fernandez. This Is the case aiso
in the memoirs Of Cavalier" which might nave
presented a seventeenth century Dumas had Deioe
been ike Dumas a poet well as noVehs'' 81"
THE Life Adventures and Piracies OF the ra"
Captain Singleton the scene Is shifted again. '"e
characters are changed; for the sweet air ol C'"-
soes island we are given the environment OF quo.
caneering times and details at which Crusoe wo"'u
have shuddered But here, too, and in MOI riah-
ders' also. the life Of sort OF FEMININE VII p
with which Mr. Aiken fills his last TWO 'oui"eS,
the style is the same there Is the same 'u'n anu
there is the same charm. How could MOL nan
ders" have charm the reader may ask "hat ias-
cination can be attributed to such person as De-
foes plain spoken heroine? The answer Is READY.
Defoe gives In Mol Flanders the picture or Dau
life described without cynicsm ana In tha' lies .he
secret of his greatness. He has the inpersohaHS
OF genius though he commonly writes IN the nrs'
person. and his biographers are fond OF Identifying
enisodes in his stories with others in his life. he
writes OF Moll Flanders he writes of Crusoe ana
the reader finds himself yielding TO the spell OF pure
human nature shown in a thoroughly vltallzeh crea-
ton Mol exists I'm Defoes pages as thoush she
could not help herself. not as though she were
simply the excuse for descriptions OF vicious life
not as picturesque type. 1t is test Of genius to
touch the reader in this way to impose a character
upon him and arouse his sympathy by the exercise
of sincerity by the utterance OF the right word In
the right place by making him feel that he and the
character question belong to the same race that
the character is superabundantly human.
We have suggested above that Mr.. Aiken Is dis
posed to think too much of the high moral ideal
which Defoe had in view when writing. But II IL
an ideal which one is forced to remember when he
turns from Defoe to Smollett The reissues OF Rod
erick Random" and 'Peregrine Pickle which have
Just appeared in the Bohn Library provoke once
more the admiration in which their authors virile
qualities are held. He also had his ideal. and his
satire Is the less genuine because II descehds
upon It's victim like steam hammer broken loose.
But the grossness Of It, the brutality OF it! Smollett
is wholesome in his intention, but not In his atmos-
to ic
but his pages offer rather strong meat II his gross
ness finds welcome at this time. II is because ne,
like Defoe. wakes from hair-splitting and the
firing divagatons Of the latterday novelist He was
born before psychology, we know the word. and
he is never consciously guilty Of 1t. although I'M
consciously as one of the attributes OF his young
realism. he provides all the psychology one can pos
sibly want He calls a spade spade, and applies
that method TO motives as well as to visible facts
The consequence is that both these novels are alive.
both are full OF flesh and blood. and move one with
the force of actual drama. To meet Trunnon Is to
forget minor matters; 1t is to watch absorbed the
play of genuine passions among genuine people. 1t
is a great pity that at the time Smollett could
not have given hint OF spiritual quality. a touch
OF the grace which novelist has who feels the
spell of beauty. He felt that SPELL and he
restricted his to scale from which lightness
and truly winning vivacity missing.
The temperance of nearly forgotten Eng
lish novels in attractive illustrated form is some
thing for which the Macmillans to be thanked.
They have given "Japhet in Search OF a Father.
and remind how inexhaustible is Marryat in the
delight which we think the novelist ought to aim,
first of all. at giving Marryat Is spirited nay ne
is blithe and his tale trips merrily along with
breezy fling that makes drowsiness impossible for
any one coming within the sphere of its influence.
There are no tales like Marryats. save Coopers,
and those. would like to consider periodically.
as their superors. But quite alphabetically We
prefer to put the two side by sde with the single
remark that Cooper more the poet than MS
comrade. Perhaps ii is just because he was not a
poetic writer that Marryat exceled In his special
field That field was bound to be prosaic to a great
extent and the author of "Japhet" had the gift for
reproducing its prose with the vim and piquancy
that best suit it, He is now old-fashioned-a virtue
which sits admirably upon him.
II sits with equal felicity upon Michael Scott the
author of tom Cringle's Log. which follows
''Japhet" and upon John Gait. who wrote Annals
of the Parish" and THE Ayrshire Legatees. These
three writer's seem to have no vogue at all these
DAYS Marryat's alone Is familiar name. II Is
odds that most Of our readers have but the dimmest
acquaintance with tom Cringe's Log and with
Cats two little productions. But there Is life In
them all. there is quaintness in the hgures OF
Georgian days in England which they all present.
there Is the equabe air which we associate Win
British fiction in its most conservative state when
even Marryat with his hornpipes and bosuns whs-
ties kept in view the habits of his audience That
old English audience very cautious II took Its
fiction with moderation. but it demanded freshness,
truth a clean wholesome sentiment and it is not
apparent why the audience of to-day should be less
exacting. Certainly the reader who takes up these
volumes will not be disappointed He will find that
they are capable of filling some half-hours with
comfort and profit. They will not stir him as Scott
stirs him. but they will keep him amused.
Of of
with a handful of French books. In Bug -Jargal"
and the smaller pieces which accompany it we do
not find Hugo his best; nor is Hans OF Ice
land" one of his really successful stories. The most
we can say for the two volumes is that in spots
they show the brilliant colors OF Hugo's romantic