New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-18
Gbe Netu'llnrk gribaaaa&
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER Is, 1908.

Mr.. w Basil Worsfold, in the current nuihper
of The Cornhil" glances at question when
has engaged unnumbered critics in debate
"In spite of q thousand assaults, he says
"in spite of critical analysis, savage ridicuie'
and delicate satire, the principle of poetic JUS
tice remains securely established by agreement
with the general sense of mankind The people
love a happy ending in play and novel And
they are right, for the principle oil poeuc JUS
tice is based upon an elemental truth" What
is that truth? Shorn of the subleties OF Mr.
Worsfods interpretation-all suggestive but
too numerous to be reproduced here-lt amounts
TO this: that the artist in bringing his tale to
a happy conclusion is following an impulse
toward ideality which is one Of the first
reasons for his existence, and that mankind, In
adopting his view, is simply following its
natural tendency to advance in energy ana
happiness" The truth is that many writer,
denouncing the happy ending with all the in
dignation of man conscious of fundamental
principle at stake has, more often than not
been actuated- without knowing it-by disgust
over some specific cases. In this, as in SO many
other matters of literary practice everything
hinges on the way in which the thing is done
For many years Mr.. William Faux, from
whom we quote the amusing anecdote about
desperate Remedies" printed on another page,
has been known as 1.-The censor of the Strand
II. earned that title through his labors at
Smith & Sons famous Circulating Library, from
which he has just retired into private life. OF
course, a who has long studied the
secrets of the circulation of literature, he has
some pointed observations to make on the SUBJ
ject. Dinner table talk" he says, for ex-
ample, lis really the greatest incentive to the
reading of this book or the other" We fear
he exaggerates the value of this incentive"
and, indeed he presently offers what is at
least n tacit qualification of the statement He
remembers being told by the late John Murray
that when he saw good review of one of his
books in The Times he felt quite safe to
the sale of the edition" 1t is to be presumed
that a good review in THE London Times or
any other journal of authority still has a GER
tain efficacy, SO criticism may take heart Of
grace and not prepare to go out of business.
Mr.. Faux thinks that THE siX-Shilling form
for novels" by which he means the novel
printed in one volume, is likely TO last De-
Cidedy it is likely to last. In this country the
threevOlume novel would not be endured for
ten days, and though for years it seemed to be
Indispensable to the Englishman he, too has
grown heartily sick Of 1t, and it is certain that
he would never support 4 revival of the form.
We wish Mr.. Faux would also say something
about his experiences as censor The diva
cations of w. Ii. Smith & Son in the exclusion
of one book another from their library and
stalls have always been matter of interest
and of the profoundest mystery.
In these days it behooves Il novelist to be ac-
curate and modest When he fails to be either
he is apt to receive unpleasant attentions. Wit
ness the experience of MI Seton Merrman In
"Barlasch of the Guard" his new novel, he
too openly deSpises his readers" That, at all
events is the opinion of Mr.. Andrew Lang
who asserts that the rOmancer has no right to
reproach the educated English gentlemen as
he does with never having heard of Rapp and
his allies in the siege OF Dantsic, which siege
supplies part of the material for the NapOeenic
to diScomft the novelist saying: Mr. Seton
Merriman represents the Imperial Guard in the
Russian campaign as armed with a musket
called the chdSSepOt. This weapon Mr. Mason
in one Of his tales assigns to the French army
in 1871 1t is not musket, but brecchload-
ing rifle. Novelist for novelist | take Mr.
Mason 10 be correct and do not think that the
guard used the chdSScpot in the Moscow cam