The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-12
NEW Booxa
Urisr Reviews er irapsrtaut ara Estsrsstspa
Hew Publications.

A clever story, founded upon the idea Of what
may DO done TO perpetuate the sentiment OF
love, once ID has asserted its beginnings, may
DO found In "The Brown.Laurel Marriage" by
lands Ayr %. Tennyson Neolyl. Here 10 set
forth the experience Of . couple who wero at
traoted to each other. but who felt that they
had reason to doubt that the attraction was
moro than Q passing evidence in their lives
They married under the provision that they
should DO associated but yet free. He had
found himself lonely without her; she had found
herself lonely without him. They agreed to q
year OF probation. They lived in adjoining
apartments, with o common drawing room.
They dined together, and permitted tho fact Of
nearness and modified familiarity. Tho story
shows very cleverly how the sentiment Of love
was nred by this peculiar arrangement First
Jealousy on his part; then jealousy on her part
Needless to say that the probation was ended
before the year had unfolded itself. It happens.
Of course, that people marry, and that at the
end of q week, or q month, or q year, az
may be. they tire Of each other. and
fall to doubling the wisdom involved In tho
instinct OF love. The reasonableness OF what
may DO called the law OF natural selection 10
frequently called in question in such instances.
and 1t is further the case that more than one In
Quiring and benevolent mind has been inspired
to concern itself with the problem Of how to in.
sho maihlontlCo unu DcTpoLuntlOn OF lONo
In bosoms in which 1t has once boon established.
Tho problem Ia q difficult one. Some have held
that 1t is best to starve love in order to make 1t
thrive, whilo Il has been the opinion Of others
that love, like tho mind, grows according to its
feeding. There seems 70 DO q good deal
of proof on both sides Of the question.
Coquettes have been loved both ardently and
faithfully. and the same 10 true OF those superior
women who are incapable under nature Of any
degree or suggestion of disingenuousness or
deviousness. We believe that Love has long been
recognized as the most perverse and incom-
prehensible OF the deities, and we suspect that
in this story he behaved properly only because
It happened so. OF course, It is within the
power Of any novelist to regulate him quito
arbitrarily, but here he has been put under no
apparent restraint. and to all appearances he
conducts himself exactly as he would II he
were not in a novel. Therein lies tho
interest Of the tale. 1t is told with
art and set forth with verisimilitude. In
some few particulars We might wish that there
had been a larger perception and permission.
and in still Others that there had been O trihe
more restraint. you would better" for in
stance. has a painful air of nffectation for any
ono who is convinced that "You had better" is
an entirely proper phrase, while. on the other
hand. 1t Is jarring to the sensitive ear to hear
the heroine speak Of "canvassing " the question
Of love. and say balance" for "~rest," and as
for the construction, Now whom do you think
is married D. that. of course, is wholly inadmis-
sible. The story. however. is superior to It's few
flaws. 1t is strongly told. 1t has dramatic and
philosophic interest. 1t has eloquent passages
and passages of admirable analysis. 80 good q
story does not often come along.
II the novel reader fails to become informed In
the matter Of American history. it will DO his
own fault. 1t seems as though novels concerned
with this subject had been published almost
every day during the last few months. Very
likely Washington never dreamed In how many
novels he would come to figure. 1t is to be said
that II he has been misrepresented. there has
been no malice in the proceeding, and il
is probable that from no novel will his
memory be made to suffer. Most of those
historical stories arc conscientiously done.
Perhaps that Is a trouble with them.
Washington. erected upon documents, 10
possibly not tho Washington of life. History Is
an imposing fact. apt to awe and deter tho nov.
edst, even while 1t attracts him. This is true of
nearly all recent novelists except Mr.. Herbert
ID. Ward and Mr.. Archibald Clavering Gunter.
Mr.. Ward. it will be remembered. was not at all
frightened by history in his story describing the
elopement Of Sarah with tho Patriarch Abraham,
nor did Mr.. Gnnter show the slightest trepida-
ton In his series OF novels concerned with the
Duke of Alva and the battles of the Sixth
Irish Fuseliers on the Rhine. 1t would be
arrogant on the part of the casual nov.
elist to think that he could be as FREQ
and facile in the presence of history as those
two distinguished romancers have boon, and, so
far as we have observed, not many have at
tempted anything Of the sort. An archaic style
has it's influence In diverting q writer from mat.
ters that he might otherwise have In mind. So
fascinating is this style, and 80 absorbing the
0rcu m tiOn NJ adheFinD IN ~ that othar daaira-
BILE considerations in q story arc frequently
overlooked. There 10 the dramatic quality, for
instance 1t Is undeniable, except among Ger
tain of the ~realists. that something should hap
pen in q tale. Happenings-the element called
action-n story is ordinarily better Off
IL 1t can manage to have something of
tho sort; though an archaic style ia.
indeed. q great deal in itself. This 10 not to say,
however. that there are not abundant happen
ings in the stories. "Vivian of Virginia. by
Hubert Fuller. and "Mademoiselle dc Berry,"
by Pauline Bradford Mackie, both published In
very handsome form by Lamson. Wolfe g. Co.
The first Is a story Of Bacon's rebellion, and the
second a tale OF Valley Forge. Both. We are
sure. will prove instructive and entertaining to
many readers.
In Shrewsbury" Hongmans. Green & Col
which was recently published in serial form In
THE SUNDAY SUN, Mr.. Stanley Weyman has
WrltUch u rafting Boou ROMANTIC Story that ID
In every way worthy of the author of the over
delightful Gentleman Of France" He has tho
art OF arousing the readers interest and main
tanning it. and though the Shrewsbury of his
romance is not perhaps the Shrewsbury of his
tory, and is certainly not tho weak and vacil
latiDg creature revealed to us In his own CORE
spondence, he, after all, Is but a subordinate fig
ure. The real interest centres In Master Rich
ard Price, the schoolmaster-frankly q poltroon
and with a dash Of tho knavo In him-who 10
supposed to tell the story. The action passes
In England. in those stirring times that followed
tho accession Of William of Orange. and the
misadventures OF tho photographed dominic
when he is unwillingly involved with the con-
spirators in the assassination plot are set forth
in highly entertaining fashion. Ferguson. tho
Judas OF Dryden's poem. and Matthew Smith,
Esq, Of the Temple. are a pair Of picturesque
villains. and, with the story OF the great con-
spiracy and the acquittal OF Shrewsbury Mr..