The times., 1898-07-10
Mr. Davis, New Novel.

Mr. Davis New Novel
THE Kings Jackal," Mr.. Richard
Harding Davis new story, has been her
aided out of all proportion to its size.
1t is not a great book-not even a large
book; 1t is a sort of snapshot novel; AS
a writer of short stories Mr.. Davis Is
moderately clever; when he is at his best
in that line he Is very clever, but the
kodak method disfigures all of his WORK.
He has all the impertinence, the min
gled accuracy and inaccuraey, and the
lack of finish which are characteristic
of the confirmed kodak fiend. 1t was
once said of him that he saw everything
as if from a car window" and although
that method may do for stories con-
structed on the basis of a fiash-hght pilo-
tograph or a thumbnail sketch, IL Is not
favorable to the construction of novel,
Mr.. Davis new novel is new only py
courtesy. We see the same shirt-waisted
girl, with a Juno-like form, and big, inno-
cent yet penetra ting, eyes, and hair that
waves over her forhead and Is knotted IN
a Gibson twist at the back. We hnd the
same alert and omniscient young man.
with creased trousers and immaculate
linen, and hair parted in the middle, VINO
appears in all of Mr.. Davis works. some
times this young man is langud leauer
of fashion, in a long coaching coat ana
answers to the name of Van BIDDER
sometimes he is dissatisfied youth with
Puritan conscience and a musical tenn
perament, and struggles with his bad
a be of Tbpnhall. some
times he is a Thoroughbred reformer,
with an ancestral reputation, and then he
is Harry Holcombe, of the Tangier adven-
ture; but always he has a broad fore
head, firm jaw, an aggressively clean
complexion and hair parted in the middle,
and Mr. Davis has sat for his portrait.
Not that this sublimated, tailor made pro-
fessor OF athletics and moral philosophy
is really like Mr.. Davis, but he is like the
id al Davis, the man Richard Harding Da-
Wis, the correspondent, would like TO be-
AS ii is said that a person who is always
smiling will grow to have a merry dis
position, so Mr.. Davis appears 10 hope
that by keeping this ideal constantly be-
fore him, in the heroes OF his novels, ne
may eventually become a hero. And the
public helps him in this laudable ambl-
ton when it buys his books.
The Ideal-it deserves a capital letter
In this particular book is named Archie
Gordon, on the principle that II is al
ways well 10 choose a pretty name when
one is allowed to select He is a little
more omniscient and omnipotent-by his
own account-in this book than he has
been in previous ones. In other books he
has only been able 10 argue with moral y
perverted fathers who desert their chill
dren, and 10 rescue young women from
toughs, and 10 give children rides
4
conflicts with himself. In this
one he has gone into the business
Of reconstrueting governments and enEi-
neering was, and taking a king s busi-
ness out of his hands and running II 10
suit himself and the great American
idea. In his Interpretation this idea
seems TO be that the public is concerned
| In all business, even private business,
and has d right 10 regulate It. This, IN
contrast with the European plan, makes
a part cf the plot of the book. The East
ern European idea seems to be that
mans private business is his and no
one else's until ne gets found out; and
people who find out are not encouraged
TO live. There is a king in this novel. of
course, as q foil to Mr. Van Bibber
Holcomb- -Theobald- -Gordon-Davis ram
pant Americanism. There Is a king, or
there could be no Kings Jackal.
In brief, the plot of the novel is this:
A disreputable monarch has been driven
out of his kingdom. for good reasons,
and, with two or three loyal adherents,
is spending his time in Paris enjoying
himself. Only one of the adheEents is
actuated by anything but selfish motives,
and this one is young prince with lovely
eyes and no morals worth speaking of,
who Is attached to the king, because his
father and grandfa ther served that house,
and ne cannot help himself He is the
Kings Jackal in the midst of machina-
tions by which the king proposes to sac
rifce this young man and make money
by selling his throne and attempting to
win IL back at the same time. the Ameri-
can correspondent, all powerful. with a
notebook and typewriter, arrives on the
scene. Mr.. Davis says nothing of the
typewriter, but the correspondent must,
of course, have had one, with an unlimit-
ed checkbook and telegraph line con-
cealed in a side pocket. This correspond
ent threatens TO expose the king, and save
the money and reputation of the Gibson
girl in the case. a young American heir
esS.
There are mixed up in the story a
beautiful adventures of the usual COM
: plex character; some dissolute hang
ers-on who are found in the Kings
apartments. and the customary small
child, ready for a dramatic effect ar the
hardly be certain. 1t appears that the
young man with the lovely eyes is to be
allowed to go off on an expedition by
which he will win the hand of the Glib
son girl and receive the paternal or fra
ternal blessing of the Ideal American;
but one is not quite sure of it all Mr.
Davis seems to have gotten to the point
where he felt that he had written enough
words to make a novel, and wound il up
in a hurry. The last chapter is hardly
climax so much as a congiomeration. One
knows that the Prince Kalonay makes of
himself an effective tableau with the
Kings as yet untainted son hoisted on
his shoulder, for there is the tableau on
the cover of the book; but further than
this one cannot exactly know. The Ideal
has vanished into the distance smiling
an inscrutabe smile, as of one who goes
to make a ''scoop" Perhaps the scoop
will be recorded in sequel. There is
plenty of room in this plot for another
book. (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons.)
LITERARY NOTES