The times., 1899-05-21
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Harold Frederic,- Inst Book.

A pathetic interest attaches to The
Market Place" the last work of Harold
Frederic. from the fact that it closed the
career OF a man who was undoubtedly the
greatest of the younger American novel
lists. More than this, he had already writ
ten two of the most remarkable American
books of the last decade. THE Damnation
Of Theron Ware" was his first really great
work. for "Seth's Brothers Wife" March
Hares, and other earlier stories were, aft
er all, only the work of prentice hand.
Then, almost at the time OF the novelist S
sudden death. the last chapters of Gloria
Mundi" appeared in serial form; and now,
when the world is beginning to understand
its loss. comes the last of the three, The
Market Place" 1t is a great trilogy, large
in conception, unfaltering and unerring in
execution and marked by the boldness OF
the genius without the self-conscious pos
ing of the eccentric. Frederic took original
views, not because he wanted to fly in
the face of prejudice, but because he could
neither help being original nor care to be
conventional. Yet the calmness with which
he presented men and things sometimes
after all, the conventional view. One could
never foTetell the outcome of his novels,
any more than the course of ones own
life. He cast the horoscope; the stars
seemed TO do the rest
This impersonal attitude is pretty GER
tain to be a characteristic of our great
American novelist, when he arrives, and
it Is by no means certain that, had he
lived, Frederic would not have been that
man. He might have been, not the Bal
zac of America, because he had a field
more vast and complicated than that OF
Paris or even France; but a writer
far greater than BalZac. The man who
would portray the life of this country must
have untiring patience. insight, breadth of
vision, utter absence Of conventiona.ity, an j
besides these. all the other characteristics
OF the writing genius. II is not the life
OF one class. one nation. or even one race,
which he must picture II is the life OF
humanity. and humanity under unprece-
dented conditions, with all the tendencies
of the Old World under all the circum-
stances of the New. Whether Frederic
could have done this or not, il is impossi-
bic now TO know. At any rate his work
has biazed a path for those who come af-
ter him. He may be the Marlowe to a
new Shakespeare.
The scene OF THE Market-Place," like
that Of Gloria Mundi." is laid in England.
Not the least of Frederic's daring i'm
pulses was that which led him TO picture
the Englishman on his own ground. In
the present story he introduces the Lady
Edith Cressage of Gloria Mundi'' as his
heroine, and the Celia Madden of Theron
Ware" as her friend. In its pages he adds
the lightest necessary finishing touch to
the portrait of that Celia who fascinated,
puzzled and perplexed her readers as much
as she did the minister. 1t may Be well to
reproduce that touch by quoting Celia S
account Of herself. 1t furnishes the key
10 her character, and shows how thorough
ly her creator understood women as well
as men. Celia is speaking TO the hero of
the present book:
''you have tie kind of organization in which.
without seccnd, without any warning OF reA-
son. passing wlim may have worked itself up
obey."
The man smiled and nodded approvingly
"Nou've got me down fne." he said.
Il talk with a good deal Of confidence - she
went or, with cherries, ruminative little laugh.
'-bceause II is my organization that ] am
describing, too. The difference is that / was al
lowed to exploit my capacity for mischief very
early had my own way in my teens-my own
money, my own pOwer-Of course, only Of a GER
tain sort and in a very small place. But know
what J did with that power. ] spread trouble
and misery about me-always, OF course, on a
small scale. Then a group Of things happened
IN kind OF elmax-a very painful climsx-and
IL shook the nonsense out OF me- Ny brother and
my father died-some other sobcring things hap
peiled-and. luckily, ! was still young enough to
stop short. and take stock of myself, and say
that there were certain paths would never set
foot on again, and stick TO IT."
II took Frederic's insight to see-what
no conventional person ever can see-that
the impulse toward freedom, independ-
enee, and experiment, is just as strong in
many women as in men. and that it will
work itself out in time, leaving the girl,
as II leaves the boy, stronger and wiser
for it. AS Celia expresses it, experience
shook the nonsense out of her." and left
her a quick-witted, warm-hearted, and
gentle woman, knowing others because
she had learned her own possibilities.
il will be seen that in this bit of con-
veTsstion the novelist makes use of one of
his old convictions, that women often
know men better than men know them
selves. It was Sister Soulsby who sized
up" Theron Ware; it was Frances who
pointed out the way to Christian; and
here It is Celia Though she is not the
heroine) who characterizes Joel Stormont
Thorpe.
Thorpe is a type OF man who has be-
come common in this century, more espe-
eially in this generation; he is the cad
who makes a fortune. He is not the mere
sharper; he cares nothing for money as
money; what he wants is power. In the
elder days he might have been a galley
slave. Drained the oyerseer. and risen TO
the mastery Of a galley OF his own; later
he might have been a leader OF the com
moners against the king In some religious
o. political revolution; nowadays he is the
organizer OF corporations and syndicates,
and wrecks other corporations as deliber-
ately as he might once have rammed an
enemy's galley; but he is never, by any
chance, the aristocrat. He may be a ras-
cal. and he may be an honest fanatic, but
he generally is mixed up in some not very
creditsble transactions, because, at bot
tom, what he seeks is power.
In this case one is impressed with the
idea that Hooley might have suggested the
portrait OF Thorpe. The feature particu-
larly suggestive of this is the presence OF
two or three more or less poverty stricken
men OF title on the board Of directors Of
which Thorpe is the backbone. But the
Frederic quality of the work comes out in
q most unexpected way. AS, in Theron
Ware" the theory brought out was that
no human being is all good or all bad, SO,
in The Market Place" the theory seems
TO be that no man is all cad or all gem
tleman. This will be a surprising and not
very comfortable idea to many people, be-
cause the prevalent notion of the world
has always been that when a man was a
gentleman he was not capable OF doing a
caddish thing. and that when man was n
cad he might put on the appearance OF a
gentleman. but could not have the heart of
one. Now. as matter of fact, there is a
great deal of fnfNfng Of fhosp fwo thInps
In this world. and though there are true
gcntlefolk and real saints one is about as
rare as the other. Neither does 1t follow
that because a man is gentleman his