The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-15

T. London editor. Mt. Blatchford.
writes to The Philadelphia THE Era
Of the later ~romanticists, and it fits
both sides of the ocean. and says:
The romantic and historical novel;
Pluck of the pIumage borrowed Of Nor
ris, Scott, and Defoe. and our new his
torical romantic novels are naked geese,
waddIing and cackling, as geese will.
Leave them their stolen feather and
property wires and the discerning
British public pays for them as golden
eagles. soaring above the reach OF criti-
cal arrow-shot."
Scott has taught the French and Eng
lish and American authors what r
nan is. Some time ago The Mes
senger drew upon an able article in the
old, grat Edinburgh Review, for eX-
tracts showing how Scott had been ths
~forerunner and example of several OF
the very greatest of French novelists
including the three greatest, Hugo,
Dumas. the elder. and Balzac. "Quen-
tin Outward" a great historical ro-
nance. and from it Dumas learned his
lessons of the right way to treat his
'toric themes and makes romance a
glory for France. A writer in a recent
number OF Harper's monthly, the best
of all pictorial monthlies in the
world. referred to SCOTS splendid
achievement in the great romance of
Louis XII time. told of what a celebrat-
ed critic said but recently, and it is pre-
cisely true we ~believe-that the "histor-
SonT ra11onon &C. oo0r+nI On oil ciIo-
generally as an inheritance from Du-
mas pere. but it is seldom remembered
that the type goes Jack further to the
source whence the Three MusketeerS
undoubtedly drew it's inspiration.
Twenty years INTERVIEWED between the
publication Of Quentin Durward' and
The Three Musketeers." and it is
suite reasonable to believe that Dumas.
who was known VIGOROUSLY as a liter
airy pi1ferer on a colossal scale Che wls
just saved from fathering a prose YER
sion OF the Iliad once) received an impe-
tus from the reading Of Quentin Dur
ward" There is no least charge o..
plagiarism in this allegation; it is onls
one of derivation"
LIN A4GSSChSCA mas OIICh SoRd Akt1
Scott and Dumas were supreme in the
magic realm of story tellers. If Scott
had never written his great Scotch
novels and his splendid historical ro-
mances. there would never have been
the intensely interesting historical
trilogy OF Dumas. and not one of the
dozens OF inferior limitations in the ro-
go; ella - &h4 go Thn~a ..
no special LIKENESS or rivalry between
the two great novelists named. Each
is supreme and yet each dwells often
in realm of romance and imagination
The writer in Harper says of them that
they were born story-tellers. with in
power. and that other rare gift which
Is magical in its effect. but which eludes
definition. the gift of holding the read
er in "A thrall that makes him dead to
all the globe" Andrew Lang once gave
1T as his opinion that the three great
stories of the world were Quentin Dur
ward Twenty Years After" and "A
Tale of Two Cities" These three rep.
resent Scott. Dumas and Dickens in
the order named. Unlike most critics
we have long held that "A Tale OF Two
Cities INT David Copperfieid" We're
the greatest creations OF the immortal
author. We are glad to see the fire.
uuent announcement of new and choice
editions of Scott and Dickens ard
Thackeray-the three greatest of the
nineteenth century British novelists.
The Harper writer saws that Scott was
probably never so popular or so wide.
read as he is today. / noticed a recent
statement by an authority that in y
bookstore alone in this country seven
thousand volumes of the Waverley
Novels were sold last year. A canvass
of the books most in demand at she
public libraries shows that Scott and
Dickens are the most popular among
standard novelists. Countless editions
of the waverley Novels are issued wear
after year.
The excellent. well informed contrib
utor Of THE Era" on "Old Worl1
Themes in the April number. writes
of the great Victor Hugo celebration
in France on the occasion of the CEN
tennial of that splendid writer a few
weeks ago. We make an extract or two
because of certain depreciatory refer
ences to the great French author we
have met with lately. Mr.. H. F. Kae-
nan says:
Hugo won and held the rank his
work entitled him to. sixty years z
he was the regnant genius of poesy.
and every year thereafter his efforts
confirmed and increased the worship
II his countrymen, and eventually OF
the greater part of the world. - HUI
go's books are sold just as steadily to-
day as when he was part of the po'iti-
cal hierarchy of the republic
But when. in 1852. Jerome's other ueph-
ew. Louis Napoleon, throttIed the par