New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-17
FICTION.
.rurMOus ROMANCE BY WILLIAM
MORRIS

rpE WATER or I 6n,avo nm Y ga Ionrmans.
william H No. oo'"'' 'r -
Green co ,. w., -.
EnsaEr"ted by w Il. Macdougall Octave PIP
~ 10 The Macmillan Company
,oRTuNEs FOOTBALLS BY g b Bursn
Vnn uodecimo. PIP ~ D. Appleton q Co
,voD OF THE CAMEhONS. BY n Hamilton
ELnnodecmo pp. $50. ID. Appleton & co.
-. nrose fiction Of William Morris was al
a thing apart. and to his critics. a trou-
''..one quantity The best and most charac-
...t,c products Of his genius were. In his early
".rbood certain lyric poems Later in life
- seemed to express himself better In the
. =. Of furniture, in the design and color of
-.n coverings than in anything else. Prose
nance. upon which ne was fond OF wreaking
.,,.sslf refused persistently to submit itself to
=. will This conclusion has been forced upon
-, ,eaders Of all those tales which were pub
r.hsd during his lifetime. and il is confirmed by
.,udv of The Water Of the Wondrous Isles"
-,cb has Just come from the press. To begin
18th let us admit that il would be hard TO sur
..ss the romantic flavor Of this long narrative.
:, has the glamour Of the wildwood. il is quaint,
r,ny old -worldlike, in brief. il is a branch off
,,e legitimate tree But the branch has fallen
,,,o the tangled thickets and has been ground
,,ssrtoot until il has lost all the strength. all
,,s free independent elasticity OF the parent
hugh
Morris never could control. in his prose fiction
=, least the first impulse Of his imagination.
7, came az once into conflict with his passion
to- words Hence. The Water OF the Won
arus Isles" Is CHASTITY in its artifciality
-Wblom as tells the tale" We read in the
.neping chapter. was a walled cheaping town
hight Utterhay which was builded in a blight
nj the land l;ile off the great highway which
vent from over the mountains to the sea
paragraph Of that is had enough When the
nights" and the "whiloms" and the braves"
md the "redes' are spread over nearly six
hundred pag-e the wight" is fearless who Will
-,are" steAdfAstly to the end If the book were
from a less cunning hand. one might dismiss
II briefly ls another example of "Wardour
Street Engli But We repeat the substance
Of this volume is enchanting. Morris was al
ways on speaking terms with the wood folk
ud when the reader rlungos with him into III,
forest OF EyiishlW, Oh the borders OF the town
hight Utterhay.' ne feels the cool breath Of
be deep mysterious aisles across his face and
dscerns romantic forms amid the underhrusn
and low hanging boughs In this dim faraway
land Morris lets his Imagination run riot. There
ere witches and knights. there is a Sending
Boat whose course Is started by the smearing
n blood upon how and stern from the arm Of
the occupant. and as il glide ont upon the vast
lake. bearin- the lovely damsel Birdalone to
the WoldrpUS Isles and 10 still more wondr,ls
sdyen;ures. il takas a grip upon the magma
ton which 3; never relax C. This boat IN fact.
b one Of the few things in the book that escape
altogether the blight Of the authors language
For the rest al his beauties are dimmed A
reolute reader will strive On and be GLAD when
be has possessed himself of all the details OF
this poetical romance. But others will faint by
The way. and even the resolute one will feel
1at bis pleasure has been seriously damaged
II is fitting to mention in this place the new
tanslatioa made by Miss Margaret Armour
rom that medieval treasure house Of adven-
!rre which built up around the legend Of
Tie Nibeiungs. Certainly. the romances Of Sieg-
tied and Brunhild and kriemhild and all their
picturesque protagonists make some of the best