New-York tribune., 1902-10-05

an age Of reason. but that in the dry light Of
reason ali things in heaven and on earth could
be settled out OF hand. the French laid about
them with a vengeance Their conclusions have
been subjected to merciIess examination, and
many OF them have been invalidated. but IL the
last century was indebted to the eighteenth. II
are to honor VoItaire and the rest. to-day
and in the future. it is for the reason that the
philosopher of the time made Intellectual ex-
ercise and discipline extraordinarily popular.
Moreover. their unending talk was not always
arid as some critics Of the century would
like TO believe If thought more often
unsrttIins than constructive tnc0 il was not
without its really fruitful exempars. both in
England and IN France. and among writers ot
all shades of opinion there was abundance
of suggestion. an unfailingly stimulating at
WOsphere over and above the solid value OF
their practical contributions 20 philosophy and
sociology, the best men-Iike VoItaire and Mont
esquieu, Diderot and Rousseau. Berkeley and
Hume Butler and Johnson helped TO make peo-
pie think. and TO think hard Perhaps IL was be-
cause it was more Fashionable to think than 10
fecl-despite the senJiueutdlism of the age
that prose held the field and poetry languished
until it almost disappeared Nevertheless ha-
man nature could not stinr its fundamental
widely seryiceabie than that provided by Pniio-
sophicaI and literary discussion with its 0ppOr-
tUniti-s for heated sarcasm and hsrce m'eeuse'
OF BY the stage with its insisteut fOFmule M
MiIIar finds that while his period is not P'O
Life of what are usually termed works Oh lliNo
nation prose fiction must always be eNeep'9
IL was not invented of course. in the eish'esH'"
century but il unQueStionaoiy came Ih'' ~
own With lie Sage and Fielding, Win Ffe'oe
and Richardson. with SmO!lctt and peioe' -
these men and TO their colleagues pecui-ii ''
spicuity is rightly given in the book oe'oi' =
Ny MilIar is nowhere more interesting OF nO l,
instructive than in those pages OF MS "H'-
show the novel in the making
In it's nction the eighteenth century turns iV' 'S
speculation about Mankind to close coh''c' w.
men and women. il comes at truth not ''i
the devious ways of theory, but by dlnt OF iOON
ing truth in the face To place the aulho'
"Ciil Bias among the pioneers IS 10 run INV -.
of provoking remarks about the much e"'I
novelists in Spain and Italy to whom NO -.
he was indebted. But Mr.. MilIdr risntIS ms
that if lie Sage found the picturesque move
ready To his hand. he stripped II OF us sqN
and brutality. arrayed il in the garo OF deCe"',
and good humor-in word. made II huin'.-
Especially he made it human. The time iO'
fled the public of Mile. de Scudery. had pass
lie Sage and Provost in France. Fielding an
two or three others in England. were all NV
at bottom by the same impulse, were an 90
cerned To give in their stories the poignant
of nature in its most natural aspects. Dill
ences of theme or of form leave untoucheu ~ !"
essential harmony. The humanity IN 'OiH p
and "ManOn Lescaut is the humanity alio" %
for surface variations of race, of 'TIom ''N.a' -,
or "Clarissa" or "Roderick Random
phiIosOphic story got itself written No
gave the world a masterpiece in TINS sehie
he produced "Candide" Johnson gave Il
other in "RasseIas." Goldsmith and Stefne
bored To good purpose without ransihs -
selves alongside the founders of the ne" ~.
But the latter announced the arrival Oh
modern novel by striking powerfully Ie" -,
note Even the most sentimental OF t"e s,
Richardson. had passion for the truth' ~ ns-
expressed: even the most adventurous -
foe. was faithful to a similar ideal N0" -,
them was superior in this respect 10 the - -,
of The Vicar of Wakefield" none had &c a,
vision than Sterne. but they all were ' TIN ~
sheer force than these two. contributes H at
propulsive energy to the development Oh ~ sas
they memOrabIy illustrated MI MIiA .h
some great names to cite in his pages on re
teenth century historians. and some "" he
important. If not illustriOus. in those ,bs
gives US on the memoir and letter "ii wiz no.