The sun., 1897-08-21

TGTOub unu apt ub llnCS, 10 appear
strongly TO the readers sense Of humor. Charles
Lamb has told us Of certain lordly author
whose language was 80 magnificent that be
seemed always TO have written with his coronot
ON his head and his oarls robes spread before
him, while the paTngraphers have let us into
the secret OF much OF Mr.. Kipling's brilliancy.
We have il, on their authority that many OF his
most magnificent effects are duo to the fact
that ho writes in pyjamas of u peculiarly
loud pattern, but so protcon is Mr. Hall
Caino in his style and language as no
describes all these scenes, wherein clergymon
monks, and hospital nurses alternate with baby
farmers chorus girls. cockney thieves ladies OF
the "half.world" " and fashionable young bloods
as he imagines thcm, that, as we read a mental
vision is evoked OF an intensely serious and
somewhat self-conscious literary gentleman
giving partially successful imitation OF the
performance OF a lightning change artist. At
one moment We seem to him clad in the
neatly cut canonicals of an Episcopal min
istor, later on ho appears in racing
suit OF particularly aggressive pattern and
smoking q large and expensive cigar while
toward the end OF tho book, when the hero has
worked himself into a state OF religious mad.
ness. in which after contemplating self.mutila-
tion he finally develops raging attack of homi.
cidal mania, We get an appalling vision Of u con.
scicntious author who as martyr to realism,
has wrapped himself in n strait twaistcoat,
and, with hair standing on end. works furiously
upon the typewriter with both fect.
All this is heightened by tho fact that there
ia q distinctly theatrical flavor about the whole
book. Its construction Is such as TO lend itself
easily to adaptation. and we feel throughout
that the author has Mr.. Wilson Barrett in his
eye as ho writes. Glory Quaylc and John Storm.
the music hall singer and the good young man
with wild eyes and the gift OF eloqucncc, belong
to the other side Of tho footlghts and to
tho region OF puro melodrama. AS to the
authors mission we confess some uncertainty.
That religious fanatic, torn bCtwiXt car.
nal love of woman and half-hcarted
desire to lead lifc OF asceticism and finally
driven to madness. may do much harm both TO
others and to himself, the book undoubtedly
proves. That there are some Pharsces in high
places. both IN the Church and elsewhere. the
world already knows. Beyond these things It is
hard to see exactly what Mr. Hall Caine has set
himself 10 demonstrate. As brilliant but ir-
revercnt critic once said Of him. He writes at
tho top OF his voice-he is SO loud one cannot
hear what he saysY"
Thank God am coward. else that which
l am about to write would be unwritten for loss
Of subject matter, says Donald Thorndyke,
master OF the schooner Phantom and the hero
Frce-Lance" (Appletons, That's the worst OF
your autobiographic hero Of the fighting school
Of fiction. From the fact that he Is telling his
| own story we know that, whatever deadly perils
he may encounter, his escape is certain. For
| has he not to write when all is overt Hence,
when the doughty Donald is at bay, his
| enemy standing over him with n cooked pistol,
and file of soldiers In the next room waiting
tho word to arrest him. and when as he says
himself II my very hope for life itself
swept away, and nothing but blank, broken
only by ii vision of the Galows. danced before
my eyes," VIC know that in reality he is tolera-
bly, safe. He Is n big. brave. and burly hero OF
the good old type, always ready for fight and
safe to kill his man. and. TO readers tired
OF the tame and unromantic matter pro-
| vided by the advertising masq queradcrs Of
| the modern newspaper duello. his story
may be recommended antidote The
scenc Is laid In New York in the stirring
| days Of 1878. and the hero runs the gantlet OF
| the British fleet, boards the brutal Clinton in
his den, and incidentally woos and wins girl
with glorious red hair Red. by the way, has
| been your only color for heroines since Tho
| Prisoner of Zcnda." Mr.. Hotchkiss writes in a
rollcking. slapdash fashion. and his story Is
| full OF hustle and go. and, though some OF Da.
vid's deeds recall the exploits OF Baron Mum
| chausen. he makes love satisfactorily. and when
| not thus employed he is generally killing Eng
lishmen. fact that will doubtless appeal to all
| patriotic readers.
II has been said that Ito approach the public
| with tho sonnet is to take tho narrowest and
hardest path to rec ignition" but the reader who
| prizes distinction nobility Of thought, and grace
| OF language, and who regards tho sonnet, with
| all Its difficulties and limitations. one Of the
stateliest OF English verso forms and ono OF the
- VI,
| will find much to delight him in Mr.. Lloyd
Mullins volume AT the Gates OF Song Estes
! e. Laurnt In the l5O sonnets here collected
| Mr.. NIifilin shows not only rarc mastery of the
| mechanical difficulties Of form, hut unusual
versatility and width OF range. His poems have
that polished perfection and purity OF thought
that appeal 10 the intellectual rather than the
emotional side. and he delights in subtle sound
effects that please the ear. though they may not
stir the pulse. There is. indeed. throughout
them all, something Of that stern spirit OF ascei-
cism that disdains the merely obvious and emo
tional appeal. and that finds expression in The
sonnet Build Thou Thy Temples
Reward lies In the work. not in the eye
| Nor voice OF critic. Whether the mart
| or On the HeconiEn hills apart.
| Toll AZ thy temples builded ia the sky.
| Dreams are. in scoth. the only verify.
| The world with scorn may lareratc thy heart
Insult with praise too la:s''' Delve at thine Art:
| Beauty shall mover aforementioned die.
| The sculptor. unillustrlous and alone
| Pent In the still HecluSion OF his room.
| Carves, through the vcycd vicssitudc OF years
| Some marvel IN Carrara but the stone
| Men heed not TIL It stand above his tomb
Tho cold commemotat!on OF his tears.
Ono OF the best examples OF that workman.
| ship with which Mr. Mitfiin, like some skilled
and patient artihcer. produces raro effects ,f
| light and color Is his sonnet 10 " The Sonnet"
| SIN let 4 due res rye the Muse attend
Who threads the Sonnot's labyrinth. As some bel:
| That tolls for vespers IN a twilight dell.
| 80 In the octave, let her voice suspend
| Her ponlp OF phrase. The sestet may ascend
| slowly triumphant. Ike an organ swell
In opul'nt grandeur rtsng-pause and dwell
| with gathering gores to It's dolphin end;
| So Oft at eve around the sunset doors,
| From up, piled splendors Of some crlmsoned cloud
| Storm. ba sed with dark -unrong like a scroll
| Forth tn accumulated thunder pours
| Across the listening valleys. long and loud.