New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-02-27

T. Norris octave PIP ", 22 Harper 8
A VOYAGE OF CONSOLATION. being in the
Nature OF Sequel to the Experiences of AN
american America Cir il Iondon'). by Sara Jeanette
| tavo PIP. S2o. ID. Appleton q co.
THE CELEBRITY. An Episode BY Winston
Churchill Octave PIP. 3G The Macmillan Com
pany.
THE PRIDE OF iJENNIco: Being a Memoir Of
Castle. Octave, PIP. S4i. The Macmillan Com
f. Anstey illustrated by Bernard Partridge.
octave. PIP. 22. Harper Brothers
When Mrs. Hugh Fraser wrote "Pallada'
she gave her readers twenty reasons to be CRATE
ful and one to be npatently aggrieved. She
had brought together the material for good
romance she had set about the writing Of that
romance with unmistakable spirit, and yet she
could not fuse her delightful chapters into n
brilliant unit. The book readable. but
patchy; artistic. and yet trifie too ford; in
word, ii showed that the author had still some
| thing to learn In mere matters of technique In
"A Chapter Of Accidents" there is not trace Of
the crudity which vtiated its predecessor. 1t is
not only good story It is written with that
authority which only belongs to the really skilled
narrator, writing out of full mind. None Of the
stands out in clear relief and the ingenuties of
the plot effaced by the naturalness with
which everybody in it moves; they to be
ingenuities they are such situations might
belong to veritable life. That the brief comedy
pla yed out within the pages OF this book strikes
the imagination unusually original is fact
which to the felicity of Mrs. Frasers
handling of her theme. She sees II from a new
| angle. gets al her personages in new hght
and paints them with captivating freshness
She touches them lightly. too, carrying the ac-
ton on with sprightliness that will not let the
attention OF the reader flag for an instant. Oc-
casionay a serious note is struck in some keen
| observation on life or character. THE greatest
curse II weakness does not fall on weakness as
such. but on the things it does when it is aping
strength" But 1t Is not with Mrs. Frasers
aphorisms that we are chiefly concerned. The
main point is that she gives US a fascinating
little tale. that it duplicates, among others, a
| boy and a girl who among the very happest
figures in recent hction and that in and out
through her pages there hckers sunny charm
| which alone would give the book distinction
Mr. Norris reverses Mrs. Frasers experience.
His latest novel illustrates curious lapse into
a kind of hybrid composition the utility OF wh4ch
Is extremely difficult to see. Paraphrasing Mr..
Henley on book of George Eliots. we may say
that it is impossible to tell whether THE Fight
for the Crown" is a novel disguised as a polti-
cal disquisition or lecture on Home Rule
| masquerading as a romance. Mr.. Norris Is not
| accustomed to such vacation, and he shows
| II by his subdued spirit by the dulness which
broods over his pages. The love interest which
| he has always known well how to keep
active in a story Of modern English social life is
here subordinated to the dry motive of "A polIt-
cal converson-if Mr.. Wilfrid Files may be said
! to have suffered conversion in matter when
| he regards from first TO last with an apathy
that implies not only distaste but stupidity.
| English readers may perhaps find The F1Ght
| for the Crown" amusing but unless we are
much mistaken Americans Will single out the
few chapters dealing with life on an irish es-
tate at the time Of the Phoenix Park murders as
ahout all there Is interesting in the book POS
siblv too. they may find Lady Virginia mildly
diyertng rattle. But they will sigh for the old
Norris the Norris who has put many ioVaDie
hero through his PAGES and has painted over and
over again the same strata OF Enghsh society
without ever wearying his public.
Mrs Cotes has a taking way with her In the
exnlotation of a commonplace idea, OF rather
commonplace types. Hence her new book Is not
without its trifing merits. But they are trivial
in the last degree and prove nothing more con-
c,usivelv than that an idea spread too thin Is
hound TO degenerate into something which is not
nm idea at all AN American Girl in London
was a vivacious book. its yivacity was its prin-
cipal and almost solitary charm "A Voyage OF
Consolation" makes much Of vivacity in It's style
IL. md