The herald., 1895-04-29

I
find the silver lining to every cloud
Even the Trilby cloud, obscuring as i
does. the few books of real merit tina
have been turned out in the past few
years, has its silver lining-not alone fo
the pockets of its author and its publish
ers, but even for the reading public. AnC
the lining is apparent to one who will
stop to consider what literary, or rathe
| dllett init, London raved over before tn,
| Irlloy craze began; to one who care,
to measure the ethical gulf between Oscar
Wilde and George Du Mauiier. The in
teliectlal gulf is of about the same ex.
tent however. more's the pity, anC
measured by the latter alone the descent
from Dorian Gray. with its wealth of wit
and aphorism. its terse and artistic hand
ling OF the Queens English, its keen sat.
ire and Its ingenious paradoxes, to the
Stiffness. the wretched syntax. the UNI
| grammatical affectations of phrase, the
| utter disregard for the rules OF rhetoric,
the unevenncss and roughness of the
compost zion, the TRY ands'' and 'don t
thinks, the conventional snobhery the
barroom philosophy, the inartistic slang,
and the realistic vulgarisms of the book
illustrated by the DR.. Jekyil of George
Du Maurier and written by the Mr.. Hyde
OF the same hand-if one stops to consid-
er the depth and width of that intellect
nal gulf, or realizes that the descent
from Wilde to Du Maurier is not flattering
to the mental caliber of reading London.
And as to the Trilby craze in America
where Oscar Wilde and his books never
gained fair footing-well, even the op-
timist will be puzzled to find the silver
Inning to that cloud outside the Golfers of
the booksellers and publishers. And the
truth OF 1T is that the American reading
public has not evoluted from the mental
attributes of its anthropoid ancestors.
Considered technically, Trilby comes as
htv
and prurient tone of Dorian Gray. Wilde's
message was that of art tor the gratitica-
tlon OF all the senses--even the vicious
and perverted ones. DR.. Mauriers trashy
book lacks all semi lance of literary art,
but 1t is healthy in tone and breathes the
spirit of what the Anglo-Saxon has de-
nominated as manly. 1t is to be regret
ted, of course. that De Maurier since he
insists upon whiting popular novels, did
not secure better education in grammar
and the art of literary composition dur
ing his youth, for it is probably now too
late. And De Maurer himself, being
interviewed by Robert H. Sherar in Nc
Clure's Magazine for April, admits that
he never took himself seriously as a nov
elst, and that the boom his book enjoys
does not prove literary merit He is en-
tlrely right in this. and if serious, there
is yet room for the hope that he Will some
day quit writing and GO on with his dull
Luuu cartoons 1Or Puncn.
4 + 4
Just now Anthony nope seems to be
the coming man in London. His last
this country by the United States Book
company of New York. This is the firm
of Lowell, Coryell & Co., the publishers of
Chimmie Fadden and other successful
books. Mr.. Wits Widow is worth read
ing by two classes-by those who enjoy
fine writing per Sc and by those who
care for the amusement afforded by the
study OF moral ami intellectual processes.
Neaera, the heroine, was once child of
the Sums and was convicted OF stealing
a pair OF shoes. AS MIR. Wits widow she
has handsome int ONE and a genuine
love for Gerald Neston. who knows
naught of her past and refuses to believe
the ISLANDERS" of his cousin. George
Neston, who re cognizes in Gerald's tiancee
the client of his first brief. George Mes
ton is the hero of the tale, and his strug-
giles with his feelings of compassion for
Neara, his. family pride and the desire to
prove himself not slinderer are most
entertaining as depicted by the wonderful
ly light and artistic pen of Mr.. Hope.
At last George has all the evidence at
hand-evidence that will blast Neara and
clear himself of the charge of being
slanderer OF a pretty woman. The day is
set for him to confound all his enemies,
show his own uprightness and prove his
cousin S sweetheart an ex-thief. She sends
for him. He goes to see her. She pleads.
He waivers. then falls and makes public
retracton of all his ISLANDERS" against
her. Then fate takes hand and works
out the rest, with the result that the
truth is known about Neaera, and Gerald
ungratefully accuses his cousin of shield
ing his fiancee from base motives. And
the end of it all is that Gerald remains
sGxr,1,a t, op1 fNr+
merits he displayed, or a punishment for
the faults he fell into says the author.
"let each according to his "reiudices or
his experiences decd : Ne g a is envied.
in the end by her class il. society be-
cause she becomes the wife of a blase lord
VINO is at heart good fellow and in age
an old man, and George marries the girl
who believed in him when all the world
turned aaginst him.
There are two particularly bright things
in this book One of them is the thesis
Of Mr.. Hope that ITO fit square pegs into
round holes is one of the favorite pas
times OF nature"
Another one of them is contained in
the brief dialogue between George Mes
ton and the aforesaid base Lord
"To like to be right, Mr. Neston.'i is
the last weakness of wise man; to like
to be thought right is the inveterate
prejudice of fools. -..
That last is hard saying, my lord,
said George, with laugh.
ut really depends mostly on your in
come answered the marquis. Good
night, Mr.. Neston."
But, for all, Anthony Hopes books will
never be SO popular as Trilby, because
none OF them Will be so vulgar.
4 4 4
1t is the fashion these days to deplore
the lack of modern writer's, the dcgeneracy
in literature. and all that. Arthur Nc
Even Letter is the latest reinforcement
who gain their living by "slashing
things and who are chronically opposed
to whatever is new in literature and art
simply because it is not old. They want
more novelists like Dickens and more
stories like Ivanhoe forgetting that the
world has outgrown the stage Of legend
and theatrcalism and wants to read
| about real men and women. The great
tragedies of life are not caused by exter-
| nal forces. The new school of story writ
| ers that began with the Scarlet Letter
| and claims Howels as its dean today,
| realize the truth of this. They are artists
| in style, too, and what is far better than
| all, brief and pointed in their syntax.
| Aphorsms take the place of arguments
| and the romances that Charles Dickens
| would have wanted 300, 900 words to tell
are now told with far more effect in the
novelette, of 1000 words. Rudyard Kip
| ling is the father of this latter day school
of the novelette,. 1t is a good school and
| the coming school for many ages yet.
| Brevity is not only the soul of wit; it is