New-York tribune., 1902-02-23


most of the time, with certain artistic fasclEa-
ton about it, as of scene in playhouse Ge,
spite its patent articiality and despite the ma.
larial airs Of intrigue and insincerity which
move through it.
/ In the course of his journey 70 the ducaI
. throne of PianurG3, the hero has his experiences
laid out for him with reference to a definite pUr-
pose on the part of the author to leave no char
acterisuc phase Of her subject untouched. Od0
. is first shown to a small boy left by
his noble parents to the boorish mercies Of L
farmers family an unhealthy estate. on
his fathers death he is taken back into luxury
at PianUra. He goes presently TO an austere
| household in the country; as a youth he is
trained in the frivolous life of Charles Emman-
uers court at Turin; again he returns 10 Plan
ura. but the road Is once more open before him,
and We follow him to Naples and the company
| Of Sir William Hamilton, to Rome. 10 Venice,
and so on, until he IS brought back 10 the city
| of his ancestors and the respOns hilities Of 4
petty sovereign All along the line we are per
mitted TO share in his impressions. We so with
him a great lady's levee 10 a perform
! ance of the opera; overhear his enthUsi astic
talks with Alferi and other exponents of ad-
| vanced thought. and IDLE with him through
the merry chambers and the moOnHt gardens
of one of those villas on the Brenta in which
the lord Of msrule held undisputed sway. We
perceive dimIy, that he is serving his appren-
ticeship. that the formation of his character
and intellect is going on. Incidentally. his heart
is stirred by love hut Mrs Wharton says Of
! Fulvia Vivaldi late in the second volume, that
'she felt that she had become 70 him the EN-
bodiment Of a single thought-a formula. rather
than a woman and she thus unconsclously
places her finger the flaw which not only
puts The heroine outside the range of our sym
pathies. but reduces every character in the book
f to Of
to a sphere as innocent of flesh and blood as Il
box Of puppets
THE Valley Of Decision is a hookish per-
| formance. packed with the fruits Of a delicate
| culture but curously wanting in the breath ot
life. We have paid tbe author the compliment
| Of remembering as We have turned her pages.
that enchanting story by Nj Shorrhouse, The
Little SchooImaster Mark not simply because
she recalls his artistic treatment Of courth
ness similar TO that with which she deals, but
! because il is plain that she has aimed at max
| ing The Valley Of Decision what the Wort
just mentioned undoubtedly is. "a spiHtua'
| romance" on the other hand this book has
much closer prototype i'm "Marius the Ep'cu-
rean." It resembles that interesting but Inet~
| fectuaI work Of Walter Paters in its preoccu
| patton with ideas rather than with life. and n
its weakness Il form. We are farfrom demandIns,
in season and out of season, the dramatic inven'
I rion of which indeed the romances Of the dd'
| give us almost too much But fiction IS fiction,
and the criticism which found expression in the
I charge against George Eliot that she was dis
posed 70 disguise a treatise novel is not
only legitimate IN the presence of work ot
fiction that is too ddactc hut is even more
| freely 10 be advanced when an author goes s1
far along the path of phiosorhic exposition as
q give IirtI, or no attention r. the construction
of any disguise whatever Mrs Wharton haa
moments i'm which she is willing 20 ooncede 20
the reader a touch uf drama. one of these
comes toward the close OF the first volume.
when Odo.- political phHandering- have reused
the slrsuicious or his enemies and the Duchess
OF T.auur5 warns hIm in mildly exciting m-
t.-.J.r, Tbs volume closes ON striking ar.-
saI- .r eighteenth century ehar'aanrv. cu.-
naluatluG 90 ra. h-r..s Heb- IN a storm from the
palace ot P.auura. Tn tho second volume Ful-
via herself uu~-I,d is escorted 70 safety lv
her cavalier Eur their romance Is 1r. mptv in
t.rrlYf-t ly ID messenger who comes ta dppr.-e
.Ddu of his appointment to the regency. and
when. after Ha is raised to fun power III tie
the author rucu,h.r any expectation Of "a Gra-
uuatID meeting uv .ateruolatinE abruptly an u0-
published fragment from Mr.. Arthur Young
diary of his travels in italy In The year 11N%
au affair ~ nearly fourteen pages. I'm which The
noted EugEshman is dragged I'm 10 eyratate on
the State al P.anura under Duke Odo's admin
istrauou. When the action is resumed the taSr