The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-27

New Canterbury Tales. BY Maurice
Hewlett New York: The Macmillan
Co S1.50
Mr. Maurice Hewlett is certainly the
most Interesting, if not indeed the most
important, figure in English fiction to-
Gay. Mr.. kipling perhaps appeals to a
larger audience because a larger number
of people will always appreciate power
than will appreciate beauty. This is not
to say that Mr.. Hewlett lacks power; in
deed no modern writer is master of
greater native forces than is the master
full creator of Richard Yea and Nea."
Put the distinguishing characteristic of
Mr.. Hewlett's work is his passion for
beauty-beauty of ideal, beauty of form,
beauty of expression.
And this passion for beauty as exempl-
fed in his page is a very human passion
the native passion of man for the beauty
of his earth. The freshness of the prime
val world is in him: the odor of the good,
rich earth with its subtlety of Sugges-
ton. with its spirit of mystery, with It's
vague, undefnable prophecies. If his
style seem to be too eXuberant. it
is but the eXuberance of nature His
work is full of luminous poetry faSci-
mating in its spirit of romanticism, beau
tiful in its mystery and mysterious in its
beauty. There is oftentimes an epic
grandeur in his work as he deals with
the primordial passions. His very reck-
lessness of style adds to the grandeur of
the structure of his imagination for 1t Is
q recklessness of absolute genius, career
ing wild amid its possessions, wholly sure
OF itself. Hewlett is a master craftsman,
and the human interest of his writing
seems the greater for its artictis inter
est.
Those who have gloried in the Forest
Lovers, Richard Yea and Nea,'' or
-'Earthwork Out of Tuscany will enjoy
these New Canterbury Tales for in
them are all the qualities found in the
other, although the short stories make no
such pretensions as do the larger works.
There are seven tales IN this volume, of
which the two best are Saint Gervase
of Plessy" and THE Countess Alys.'
Saint Gervase of Plessy'' is, indeed,
one of the most pathetic and fascinating
OF tales yet told in our tongue and sets
forth the adventures of a kidnapped child,
who was stolen by the. Jews because he
was without spot or blemish, fair to see,
and of an enthralling voice, and they
hoped to find in him the Messiah for
which they had waited in vain. He was
nailed to a cross in the crypt of their
synagogue. was taken down from the
cross while he yet lived and restored to
consciousness and health by a woman
who conceived for him a maternal pas
sion. In time he was brought back to
the Jews by her, who, when they hal
felt of his wounds and beheld that he
yet lived and endured the passion, ac-
copied him for their Christ and espoused
the Christian faith-a city full of them.
The poor little saint is placed IN a her
NIT house, high upon a bridge, and takes
up his santship with what courage he
may leaving his father and mother and
his child love, who also understands the
trying role of a saint and dwells upon
the bridge likewise in a second hermitage.
The tenderness of the tale and the fash
ion in which Gervase rose to his melan-
choly distinction-like king coming sad
" to his own-makes a tale of unique del
icacy and pathos.
1.-The Countess Alys'' Is the story of
wondrous beautiful lady, married to an
old man, suspicious and proud, sour and
silent The lady is beloved by many men
other than he, and most of all by the
king who tries by means as often foul
as fair to win her love. The art which
this poor dove" employs to escape her
enemies, her wit and bravery, her honor,
her sorrows, and her rewards are set
forth in dainty English, albeit with great
candor
new book by Mr.. Hewlett is at any
time an event, and this new book is fully
up to his high standard of style and
manner 1t will bring delight to thou
sands. For one weary with the wastes Of
modern fiction, the coming upon such
hook as this is like finding an oasis in a
desert