The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-04
AMONG THE NEW BOOKS
-o-"-"-o-"~o~o-o-o-ooo-o-o-o-~0-0-o-o-0
"Richard Yea-and-Nay., ,,

L
Nay, by Maurice Hewlett The Mac
milan company New York.
Authors are hard put to it nowadays
Tor names" remarked a critic the other
day. when Mr.. Hewlett's new romance
was announced, and certainly more
commonplace title might have been
found for this book-but it is not Mr..
HeWletts nature to be commonplace in
any respect, and the name he has given
this third child of his invention is in
the highest degree characteristic Of the
genius Of his style and its present sub
ject, says the reviewer of the New York
Times.
We have had studies of Richard the
ldon-Hearted before-in 1.-THE Talisman''
and ''Ivanhoe," and elsewhere, and he is
a familiar subject to US all since child
mood. We all know the Black Knight
the Hover of chivalry and romance the
champion of the poor and oppressed;
the great Crusader, hewing his way with
his mighty battle axe through the hosts
OF Saladin, bearing down all opposition
before him, scattering death and ruin
over the lands, and emerging trium-
plant from the shock of many battles,
only to find himself a helpless prisoner
at last in the hands of his quondam
allies. OF Blondel we have heard, and
the romance of the kings liberation
from captivity, and we know how he
finally came to his untimely end in the
flower of manhood, at the hands of
Bertram de Gourdon, the archer of Cha
luz.
More than this, it is safe to say, very
few OF US knew of Richard the Lion
Heart till Mr.. Hewlett came to our res
cue with his present romance, and to
say that he has enriched our gallery Of
historic portraits in doing so is perhaps
the best tribute we can pay to the ex-
qu1s1te genius of his work. If any one
henceforth desires to know Richard
Occur de Lion as he was, the lavish, gen.
erous, fearless knight, the type of all
! the good and evil of the Plantagenet
blood, the unfilial son of a ferocfous
father, the burning lover, the cruel, re-
morseless avenger, the sparkling and
sarcastic wit, the eloquent pleader, the
gay and sunny Troubadour, the most
feared man of his enemies, the most
loved of his friends, in all the pages of
history, let him read Richard Yea and
Nay" Of the genius of Mr.. Hewletts
style it is unnecessary to speak, but
let us cite few examples of his method
of portraiture. Take Richard himself
first of all:
''Of him, son of a king, heir OF a king,
If you wish some bodily sign, 1 win say
shortly that he was a very tall young
man, high-colored and calm in the face,
stratght-nosed, blue-eyed, spare of flesh,
1.-The swift of movement He was at
once bold and sleek, eager and cold> as
lce-an odd combination, but not more
odd than the blend of Norman dog and
Angevin cat which had made him So
Furtive he was not, yet seeming to
crouch for a spring; not savage, yet
pr1med for saVagery; not cruel yet quick
on the atfront and on the watch for it.
lie was neither rogue nor a mailman;
and yet he was as cunning as the one
and as needless as the other if that is
a possible thing. He was arrogant, but
his smile yelled the fault; YOU saw II
best in sleepy look he had His bIem-
1shes were many, his weaknesses two
He trusted to his own force too much,
and -despised everybody else in the world
Not that he thought them xnaves: he
was certain they were fools. And so most
OF them were, no doubt, but not all. The
hrst flush of him moved your admiration;
great height, great color the red and
the yellow; his beard, which ran iutting
to point and gave his jaw the dubbed
look OF big cats; his shut mouth and
cold, considering eyes; the eager set of
his head, his soft, padding motions-a
leopard, a hunting leopard, quick to
strike, but quick to change purpose"
Face side by side with this the portrait
Of Jehane Saint-Pol, which is none the
she dream-child:
Her face, moen-shaped, was as pale
as a moon; her loose hair, catching, lfeht
framed it with gold. She was all white
against the dark, seemed TO loom in If
taller than she was or could have been
He noticed how tall she was and
now sum, save for very beautiful bos-
on 100 full for Diana's, whom else she
FeSembled. There was an air of mingled
surprise and defiance about her: she was
Silent girl. ''Fronted like Juno. shsned
IKE Hebe, and like Dementer. in stature. .
sullen with most, but with one most
sWeetly apt, she looked watchf11l hu+ wa
really tlmid; looked cold, but was secret
lyi aflre- l knew soon enough how her
case STOOD, how hope and doubt strove in
her ana and choked her in silenca
guessed how within those rettcent mem
pefs swift love ran like wine; but h.
cause OF this proud beauty mask of hers
was slow to understand her worth Cod
help me, l thought her thing of snow ;,
Sucn is Richard and such IS the girl
MI: Hewlett has chosen for MIN to love
ana 10 be his companion and wife of his
BOSOM With natures such a : theirs Io--a
is consuming flame, and II poss 49,,
ing AID blazing its way through tbe ro-
nance devouring all that fell in it's path
Ill tney Doth are DESTROYED nv ft
VI the associates of these two in Tho
STORY of John. of Milo. Of Fertrarn 'l ~
oorf' OF Mon6errat, of the Oueon
Mother, of Berengere. and a host ~
ot.lers, there is too little space to sneak
% illuch Tor the characters Mr. Hewlett
mas given US, but they are no moro
stTlklng than the canvas UPON wbicE
tneT action is laid-whetfer 1t be the
peasant land of sunny France tte
green valleys of England, the heavino
BOSOM of the purple Mediterranean. or
the oiive-clad hills of Palestine. we FOL
low them through scenes and landscapes
lndqe oeautltul as dreams by the
alchemy of Mr., Hewiett's exquisite TN
agination. OF action and incidan+ +baro
IS no pause in the steady stream of soul
suffing combat and gay adventure that
runs through the pages of the novel
With Richard the Lion Heart. for Ieaa.
or, We look to be led into danger -
feVei IN the sight of combat. to dash
into the thick of the fight, and to emerge
triumphant from the shock of hattie
hewing our way out with the sword ana
pattle-aX and trusting to their might t,
denver us. We are rot disappointed
and the whole gorgeous pageantry and
panoply Of war are thrown in to down
the cries OF the wounded, the dismenl-
bered. and the dying
In the liberty Mr.. Hewitt has taken
with history in his narration of Richard, 6
conduct TO Queen Berengere. and his de-
sertion of her after the marriage cere
meny, he is needlessIy cruel both to the
memory of the good queen, who was a.
faithful wife to the king many years.
and also to Richard himself, who actual
~ did nothing of the kind. Nor can we
help thinking that all Jehane's relations
With the old man of Musse are in the
highest degree repulsive to a fine sense
Of delicacy, and the matter might have
been much better arranged otherwise
than to lug in any such melo-dramatie
ciaptrap at the lord of all the assassins