New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-21
WEIR OF HERMISTON.
THE BOOK THAT STEVENSON CALLED
HIS MASTERPIECE.

Dnha OIL
New-York Charles Scrbner's sons
"ro.r - uerm,ston" represents the last defiant
forav OF an ambitious writer into heid from
u.h,oh ,o had never willingly withdrawn, and In
which he was convinced he would win his great
es, tr,,,mnhs II ia unfinished. and therefore,
anb,ouous II is true that Stevenson consioereu
fro hook in Its promise, at least, the nnest pro-
duction he had ever conceived-wltness the no"
familiar estimate which he passed upon the "orh'
.Tbe story unfolds Itself before me TO the least
detail There is nothing left in doubt never
felt so before in anything ever wrote. IL VIII De
nv best work ] feel myself so sure IN every
word" But this deverance. while exciting
sympathy and some confidence, does not ref''oVe
the ambiguity which hangs about 'Weir OF 1er-
miston" The book leaves the reader, with
deepened curiosity the threshold or that IN
uuiry upon which he has started with the perusai
OF each one Of Stevenson's preceding works. Inat
inquiry is rot so much as to whether the man
had genius or not. There can be no question az
to the genuineness OF his gifts But the kind Of
genius he possessed. the cesence OF It, the spark
In it that separa ted him from the other writer's OF
his time, this Is much n matter OF speculation
now as It was when he first launched his work
upon the world.
This fragment of Stevensons is a picturesque
Scotch reality left out Mr. Sidney Colvln, who
explains in a note. on the authority OF the novel
ist, Just how the story was to end. might seem
10 deny this Surely son Of Scotland.
he says. has died. leaving with his last breath
worther tribute to the land he loved"
The worthness Is unquestionnble The pages
breathe a loyalty to Scotland which shows
how much Stevenson pined for his North
ern home while happy. In most other things. on
his Pacific Island. But there Ia something missing
from the book. something that to miss in the first
chapter is to miss in the last. The plot is one Of
Sevenson's most obviously mechanical achieve
ments 1t consists. briefly. In the birth ~ a sensi-
tive soa to an insensitive father. n hanging
judge" Of the most upright and yet bloodiest old
Scotch school. In the natural alienation Of the son
from the father: in the arrest Of the former for
murder. justhabe. according 10 all the laws Of
fiction. and in consequent sentence TO the gal
lows by his implacable ancestor. the latter feel
ing all the while however. an intense affection
for the whom his duty compcls him TO con-
denim. Tested by any OF the unwritten laws ~
modern literature laws mono the less lnflexble
because they are unwritten, laws Of probability.
OF FEASIBILITY. OF human experience Itself the
situation is just incredible enough for the edge to
be taken from its reality.
Braxield. a veritable figure In the Scotch annals
OF the eighteenth century. and passage quoted
by Mr.. Colvin from Lord Cockhurns Memorials
OF His Time testifes within the pages Of the book
actually before US to the justice with which the
novelist laid on his colOrs. But Braxic.d at his
worst could not have played the part which
Stevenson thrusts upon his Lord Hermlston. and
II may be doubted as to whether any modern
writer could have done anything with the theme
as II Is presented In this romance Aeschyus
might have wreaked himself upon IT and proved
that II had tho elements 81 genuine tragedy IN II.
But the drama would have had 10 be played
under what may he called Acschylcan conditions.
In other words the idea Stevenson attempted to
| elaborate Is fitted 20 the unltics of The Creek
theatre. and absolutely untitled 70 those - the
modern play or novel Not 80 late the seconi
decade OF the nineteenth century could such
episode as the trial in Weir ~ FIerrnlston have
come to pass. II Is true that Stevenson dld not
describe the trial before be laid down his pen.
| He had not reached II But II 10 part
o, the evolution OF the story. and. even ns Il
stands. tho book must bear the burden OF its
plot 1t Is significant that tho elimination %
that plot is not forrshadowcd in any one Of tho
nine chapters all hut completed There Is noncof
that vague creeping on Of Nemesis which belongs
to a narrative % tho sort We simply believe. "a
We turn page after page. that n climax will be
| reached by-and-by: and Mr.. Colvin tells us in a
| note what IL will be. II would never be dreamed
| Of the organic termination 10 those chapters
| perused. 1t would come. because. IN the self
| respecting novel. a climax has 10 come: but II
| Mr.. Covn had not Informed us we might have
| gone on attrlbuting any conclusion 10 the story
which pleased vagrant fancy-and one would
have been just good as the other. Stevenson
himself felt the risk he running In this mat
ter :elt II kcenly that he wrote again and again
II friends home for such legal authorities az
would provide him, not with the shadow Of
precedent-that was out OF the question-but with
a confirmation OF his hazardous assumption that
a father would be permitted to pass Judgment
upon his son. in Scotland even II he wanted 50 TO
do. The romancer was resolved TO square his sit
uatlon with the law. It was impossible 10 square
It with the instincts OF humanity.
| II will be seen. then that Weir OF Hermiston"
marks no advance In Stevenson's dramatic fac
ulty. The plot Is got at from the outside and It
remains mechanism pure and simple. without
the force OF indubltable nature. without the lre
OF n creative inspiration. Turning to the char
acters In the story. there Is. IT may be repeated
no native Scotch reality. about them but on
| the other hand there is amazing artistic effect
| there is pcturesqueness that is charming. The
Lord Justice Clerks wife is on the brink OF human
pognancy. and II she falls. as the curious Kir-tic
fails OF quite reaching the plane Of living breath
| ing womanhood to which Stevenson tried to
elevate them botn. 1t Is not for lack OF trying
on his part. nor for lack OF delicate. expressive
almost eloquent touches in portraturc. They
are water-color sketches OF great beauty In a
gallery that was intended t. be hung with full
lengths done in OIL within their limits they
delightful. and the poor. weary housewife,
Mrs. Weir, dying finally as weak flower dies
tossed by storms 1t cannot understand. Is unmis
takably pathetic and very nearly impressive.
The Lord Justce-Clerk himself merits the last
| epthet with the same qualification.
Plot and characters leave Weir of Hermston"