New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-27
NEW NOVELS.
MRS WARDS STUDY OF POLITICS AND
LOVE.


PIP. 3sS. Macmillan Company.
The poes of fiction are designated by wedding bells
and funeral drges by paradise ana nell. NATURE
effects "A compromise. and though IL may seem u
bring the Individual TO elimination IL ~ hot oi'ep
that II really does So though II appears TO write
linis over his her career II IL Always continuing
the chapter of one in the chapter OF another Inc
truIsm would not be worth mentioning II some con-
temporary novelsts were not so obviously ryihs u
emulate that artless art Of their model II MIS- "aro
and Mr. James both. to choose two important eN-
amples had not written In their latest books KIND
of protest against the convention whlcn terminates
a romance with implication that IL mas run i's
course and has no to say to us; save that the
hero and heroine have been comfortably sheiVed III
innocuous bliss. buried. with equally cohioi' ap'e
hnality In the crash OF catastrophe 100 over
vhelming TO leave even their bones upon the scene
The protest has been made before, notably pS MI
Hardy whose stories art is literally the mirror OF
nature But neither Mrs ward nor Mr.. James quite
mirrors lfe their aim Is to analyze. 10 explain 10
interpret they along. and TINS gives their pro-
test a pace by itself. For writer's who tacitly as"
sumo to follow the most la5yrinthne workings OF the
psychology OF their characters they seem unex-
pectedly Impotent when the crisis comes. They leave
their plots abruptlyleave them suspended IN fnuaH
What they trying for Is the same erect 'ha' en-
cages Mr.. Hardys imagination. Their success IS
ambiguous. 1t Is UNREASONABLE. but somehow IL
surprises. as though this harmony with the prec-
by their volitlon by the nnmstakaole actio" OF
fate that a veil Is thrown over the march OF events
as Il reaches the last pages Of their books.
Mrs Ward leaves this Impression with peculiar
clearness In Sir George Tressady III ~ not III
tended to undervalue what she has done On the
contrary she has never been more admirable than
f., tho details of this novel. 1t Is merely necessary
to point out that while she teaches the 'ehoencs
of life to leave its dramas unfnsheu she ooes ~
out of a theory out of thinkers ambition rather
than out of an intuition of the truth IL Is mere
that "sir George Tressady" reveals its defect ana
its merit 1t IL too artificial to be haiied az true
70 life II IS TOO full of sympathy, OF subtle anaiy-
sis of thoughtful argument and sun more 'hous"'
full consideration Of things beyond the reach VI
ARGUMENT to be regarded quite untrue 10 H. ms
Judgment Is battling, but so is the novel Mrs'
ward making her protest has been said
against conventional endings. rails, AT the SAINT
timo tn give her story that dramatic Impetus ana
snontaneitv which may fairly be expected OF even
the most unsymmetrical report or the most uiisy "
metrical procession OF events. Nature may pe III
DISPOSED to round out such a PROCESSION Win al
absolute period but at least she is consecutive
Mr. ward is not Her drama lmps The Sc
ouence Of events is logical enough, but laboriousY
so and only in the second volume does IL seem :"
have the pulse of life in IT, Up TO that par. vi
tho story and indeed to the end. Sir George Tres
sadv and his vulgar little wife. Lady Marceiia MAN
well and her admirable but somehow unsympa-
ran understand and explain. each one by ITSELF
without being able to denote their close relation 10
one another in the play and interplay Oh u'"'"''
tissue of circumstances. Mrs. ward might ie'oi'
that she means this to be that 1t Is just IN 'hs
Loosely, connected way that individuals work out
their destiny beside one another But 'here J"
would no ,mpossibe to agree with her. assuming
that she presented such defence. and as IL Is the
most plausibe assumption Is that 1t was her IN
ability not her wish. that has left her persohages
in such doubtful case
The situation Is plain. Sir George Tressady mas
denths which his wife cannot fathom Marceiia
MAXWELL understands him. and in all innocence
gives him her sympathy. doing so the more readily
because by influencing him to change MS vote al
the House of Commons she gains that vote LOT her
husbands bill Lefty, the young nero WIFE, lanes
umbrage at this. and what with her cheap Jeai-
&C.. and Tressadv's feeling for Lady Maxwell.
the elements of a dramatic plot are soon placed AT
tho authors hand. They weave themselves INTO
a whole without an effort and it would seem 10 DE
Mrs Wards business to reflect their weaving ou'
she does nothing Of the sort and the reauer loi-
lows the various threads of the narrative with a
constant wish that they might be brought tose'he'
IN the right way twned intertwined. until thelr
intimate connection with one another Is made per-
fectIy manifest. To leave George Tressady dead' III
=, nosture of herosm at the end of the book. and
TO wonder what will become OF Lefty, wnat VIII De-
come of the child is compatible enough with
observer of the incertitude of human things. but
when all along that crisis has been approached by
fits and starts and only seems lugged III at inc
heels finally for the special purpose or coHpie'"s
the portrait Of Tressady alone, the Imagination
feels dissatisfied and Graves rewriting OF the
whole interesting plot; For. we repeat II l. en-
tremey interesting and nothing could oe hore
delicate more exact than Mrs. Wards study OF
the young shallow wife devoured with love OF
dress and social power; nothing could De more
suggestive than her account OF Tressadys graduai
DEVELOPMENT through suffering from the cynical
youth OF the first pages to the heroic man OF the
climax The vein of political and socialstic dis
cusson which runs through the book Is full OF the
intelligence and fine feeling which distinguish Mrs
Wards treatment of such themes And yet even
here where she is dealing with material that she
undoubtedly loves she fails to fuse her thoughts.
fails to illustrate that conveyance of her char
acters and events toward a common squirt or
energy which they manifestly ought to reach II
they are be regarded. not as puppets. but as
human beings.
Mr.. James has written in THE Other House
story which probably could never be put on the
stage yet it necessarily recalls the hustle OF those
French comedies which keep the curiosity OF the
spectator at concert pitch through innumeraoie
changes of scene. His drama IT, unlike Mrs.
Wards. profoundly complicated. He presents n
man as vowing to his dying wife that he will never
remarry at least during the lifetime Of their child
He later places the wdower between two women
who both love him. though he loves only one. The
,inloved woman murders the child. who Is an oh
struction to them all. and does So not that she
may marry Tony Bream herself. since that looks
impossible but In order to incrimnate her rival
Tony moved by n curious loyalty to the woman
who though the murdcress Of his own child has
loved him, assumes the guilt OF the tragedy Mr.
James leaves him on the brink OF the consequences
OF this grsly affair. Is IT an affair OF nature?
Perhaps though air OF improbability hangs
over the book. Yet the author excites interest
through the protest which he makes, the protest
to which reference has already been made. ana ne
amuscs-though the epithet might seem hardly 10
III so sombre a book through the ingenuity OF his
narrative II IL az full OF Interruptions ms melo-