New-York tribune., 1900-12-29
A STORY OF LOVE AND WOE.
UNCoMMoNLY CLEVER LETTERS TELL
THE TALE.
AN ENGLISHwoMAN'S LOVE LETTERS. 12mo
pp. 300. Doubleday, Page & Co.

AN ENGLISHwOMAN'S LOVE LETTERS. l2mo'
pp. 322 Doubleday. Page q Co.
The authenticity of the passionatey loving let
ters presented in this little volume has been
subject OF much discussion in England. To our
thinking this discussion quite unnecessary.
Fascinating, II troublesome. their impetuous
young writer might we'll be in actual life and
would like to believe in her as realization
of the poetic heroine the Juliet of all ages. But
in truth we can't but feel that her name was
Harris and we don't believe there was no sich
a person" A Marie Bashkirtseff might have
written these outpourings Of the heart. perhaps,
except that the Bashkirtsen conceit ana SELL
consciousness inseparable from that sort OIL
youthful temperament could never have peeh
so skilfully concealed. 1t must be ADMITTED Iat
the letters are remarkably veracious in erect
the trouble is that they are little too clever
Real letters. we believe would have told the
story less clearly. adroitly and fofcibiy' the
writer is made to appear girl of genius. but II
is to be doubted that even genius is ever so
artisticaIly, consistently literary in the express
sion of its own romantic love.
Taking the book as a neat bit of fiction the
reader will find ii uncommonly interesting the
story revealed is one Of woe The heroine rails
in love with g. handsome youth who, arter
time during which she has successfully con-
ceaIed her feeling returns her love. The letters
penned after their mutual pledges are given
are a shout of joyous ardor. The strain of dis
cord comes with visit to the prospective bride
by the hero's widowed mother. She is grim old
woman, she likes neither the girl nor the match,
and she makes her aversion constant and en-
phatic Still the affair goes on, with Romeo ap-
parently responsive, until-the girls world
crashes about her ears. Her lover writes her
briefly that they must part, that there is no
fault in her. that she remains for him the dear
est and best of women, but that for her good
and his the only right thing is to say goodby
without further meeting. Her heartbroken pro-
test he does not answer-then she writes few
more letters filled with unaltered alteration and
touching sorrow, and miserably dies at twenty
one. These last letters are found among her
belongings after her death, and only then reach
their destination. An ingenious preface gives
us to understand that the man is no more in
fault than the maid, that both are the victims
Of untoward Circumstance. Here is a fine mys-
terry that instantly sets all readers guessing, is
the cause OF innumerable newspaper para
graphs, and, incidentally, sells the book.
These epistles are, in a way brilliant-not
only POLITICALLY ardent, but sometimes witty and
shrewd. and generally expressive of a singu-
larly cultivated mind One failure in their artis-
tic construction, indeed, is that they are often
little too old for girl-a mature and clever
woman is apparent in them. Accepting the mys-
terious motive that puts an end to much
fiery love and JOY, it must be said that the hero
might not unnaturally have tired of such lavish.
almost wild devotion. 1t is that of a slave, of
a dog; it is far more than the traditional unsef-
ish love which mankind demands-and demands
nevertheless with i'll concealed hankering for the
partial withdrawal that awakens interest and
invites pursuit. The New Woman may say that
this is not greatly to mankind's credit; but 1t
happens to be fact in human nature
AS piece of writing, then, tour de force Of
its kind, the book is decidedly worth reading.
Those who prefer to look upon It as drama of
real life are at liberty to disregard the critics
opinion and to weep luxuriously the soft
tale Of passion and of constancy."