New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-03

makes one rather admire than desire this meas
Of insight If all this be true, if this be the
right understanding of woman's love, would
rather not peer too closely into it, and Dickens
did not. But certainly, save for his shrews, and
Mrs Camps, and feather headed Doras, and Mrs
NicBlebys, Dickens was not a master In ms por-
traits Of women, that is, Of marriageable young
women the stuff of heroines. He has no Rosa
linds, or Beatrices, Beatrix Esmondss or
Diana Vernons. That his melodrama TOO often
makes US yawn," is true for me, but clearly was
not true for the readers Of his own age Prop
ably at the present moment, he is not popular
and that much is to his credit says Mr.. LORD
in the spirit of Phocion. 1t is not much. II true
TO the credit Of the populace. Dickens sells very
well, but with the modern populace OF the cir
culating library only contemporaries are or can
be- in the very first rank Of popularity. Homer
says the same thing about the popularity or new
poets in his own age, but he dlsproved ms own
rule. The nice new little poets, MoschuS or Blon
or TheOcritus or RuhnuS never lnter1ered Win
the popularity of Homer. Fielding is probably
the greatest English novelist, but Mr.. Guy
Boothby is far more popular than Fielding, and
so is Dickens.
Mr. Lord thinks that the vogue of Dickens
at home and abroad. is due to his aboundlng
love Of his kind" 1 think it is due first TO mis-
humor, and then, for people who like pathos and
melodrama, to his melodrama and his pathos' he
has abundance of really good meIodraIna' anu
we are not all superior persons. He has pas
sageS of unstrained pathos. as In the chlIdhooo
of Copperfield, and even his strained paIhoS
made men weep who were certainly in no re-
spect worse men than we. our taste dlHers
and Mr.. Lord and prefer our own taste; but
there is no certain standard, except the usage
Of the best authors. They do not. and never
did extract pathos from dozens OF deathbeds,
yet even to-day, thousands weep quite com
fortably with Mr.. Ian Maclaren. II with MN
why not with Dickens? The sufferings OF chill
dren ought TO be sacred, but Dickens dld not
think so. nor did NJ. Daudet TO doubleDarTet
a DEATH bringing down Dora with his right and
her dog with his left barrel. seemed legitimate
10 Dickens The great writers of age have
written thus and that fact, not our present
taste, seems to prove that Dickens overdld
this pathetic business. But he honestly made
IL TnVNyA 1rXT pan 6n
'Drivel," says Mr.. Lord, was IN the ar ana
could not be avoided. Thackeray treated him
self occasionally to short outDurst or drlVel,
in the death Of Colonel Newcome' presume
Early prejudice does not permit me to call the
passage ''driVel" though that Of course, must
be the proper name for it. Again, never could
see that Joey b. funny, Mr.. Lord does
see Joey seemed only to aim conscientously
al being funny while Mr. Toots succeeded. so
much do mems opinions vary on the most ordi-
nary matters" and Mr.. Lord thinks that Cousin
Feenix is well bred" and that "Oliver Twist"
is only interesting when groups Of villains
come together to plan some villany. Not IN
the workhOuSe, not when the DOdger 'redreSSeS
of hisself'' to the worthy Beak, not when he
tries the old gentlemanS handkerchief on MS
own countenance, and replaces 1t in the owners
pocket; not when Charley Bates plays whist in
his peculiar style-Oliver is only interesting
when Monk and Mr. Skies and other choice
spirits come together to plan some villany'!
That Mr.. Pecksniff is "a creation as great as
Tartuffe" I doubt but Mr.. Pecksniff is infinitely
funnier You cannot imagine Tartuffe genially
intoxicated at Todgers's. Great as AIoliere was.
aWav with Tartuffe, a serious creation, as Dick
ems does in the case Of Mr.. Pecksniff. who only
fails when he is taken seriously. feel sure that
Shakespeare would have converted Mr.. Peck
/ sniff just before the curtain fell, for he must
have become attached to a rogue so diverting;
he is always divinely tender to his comic rogues
/ 7 cannot believe that Dickens did well to take
| them seriously and punish them.
Two Of the more celebrated novels Mr.. Lord
! scarcely touches Omits TO nOtice-"A Tale
OF Two Cities and Great Expectations" The
pathOs Of the former still draws abundant tears
on the stage, for after dinner by a freak Of
atavism revert TO the sentiment Of 1860.
Something has ever preiudiced against "A
Tale Of Two Cities. When il appeared The
SATURDAY Review spoke Of It in the tone Of Mr..
Lord and other wits OF 1903. But il holds its
own somehow. while Great Expecta TONS" one
Of the four or five best of the novels. does not
appear to he very widely and minutely known.
Many could not give a clear account of old
Bill Barley, and even Mr.. WOpsie is not pop
ular as he deserves 10 be. Even extreme Dick
ensites If they plain and honest. must admit
within themselves that Dickens must either
vive chiefly in his comic passages or by return
OF the sentimental tide. flowing high over the
beach, where superior persons take their prom
enades. Meanwhile, setting critics. young
ladies and dull people apart, conceive that
Dickens is still very popular. Not long ago two
small boys, moved by ''Ballantyne the Brave"
away from school. their purpose being TO
annex q desert island in the Hebrdes In their
wick'-in the first edition-worn almost TO rags
England.