New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-21


,hralling work. It is at once a chronicle OF GER
tain rnomentous years in the life of his famous
heroine and a searching study of her character.
The narrative IS closely written; the portrait
Is infinitely drawn. Never has Mr.. Hewlett used
10 better purpose his gift for transferring the
pageantry OF life TO the printed page IN all us
glowing colors, for making the central inquire IN
his drama seem TO us-yyhile the drama lasts-a
creature OF flesh and blood. in whose affairs We
cannot but take an almost GREATNESS interest.
SO much at the outset for the quality of this
story as a story But here nre reasons why
this is unlikely TO be the first object OF the read
ers inquiry. He knows in advance the substance
OF The Queens QUAR-" he knows that for his
plot Mr.. Hewlett must necessarily adhere TO
lines already laid down in the books. But what
Of his conception OF Queen Mary? Has he, with
the imaginative insight which he has so often
exercised to such good purpose. penetrated fur
Their than any Of his predecessors into the Sc
cret Of that enigmatic enchantress? What. with
all his resources Of sympathy, romance and art.
has he TO tell Of the beauty. the charm and
the Maynard passion that to this day keep the
queens spell alive and make It as bewildering
as it is potent2 These are the questions that
We ask with most concern we turn the pages
OF this novel.
The book seems TO have been written to prove
FIRST and last that Mary far more the
the bargain. 3sot weak Of will or timid-far
from it-but weak in that she put love before
euty, and so rendered herself defenceless against
the assaults of fate in circumstances which cried
aloud for womanly dignity and for perhaps,
more than womanly strength. Something OF the
exquisite grain OF her shines through the nov
elist's first portrait, painted she stands talk
ing with her uncle. the Cardinal of Lorraine. in
the palace at Orleans before her departure from
France:
A tan slim girl. petted and pettish pale yet not
flower of the heat, lax and delicate. Her skin-but
with color that warmed it from within, family
she drank WOW Could see the red Vine e run ike fire.
down her throat; and II may partly be believed
oerned beating within her body. and raying
rr1ey g na he| Tb a0M Who WAS so rsp
sodist of the sort admitted her clear skin adj
q beautiful girl-eyen for queen: Her nose, he
judged was TOO long her Lps were TOO INN her
long look. Her lower lids were nearly straight her
sleepy appearance. sometimes a sly appearance
when, slowly lifting, they revealed the gltmmering
hazel they were, which sometimes seemed to be
acted upon hers upon a cats eyes. Beautiful
she may not have been. though Monsieur de Bran
all over-sharply. exquisitely cut and modelled her
where ali else was pale as tnged rose: her sensi-
tive nose: her broad high brows; her neck. which
bosom of a child And then her hands her waist |
bigger than a stalk. her little feet! She had !
look Of the Queen Of Desire. who knew not where
one what that was; And belying that look askance
her voice was bold and very. clear. her manners
were those of lively, graceful boy. her gestures
fear Her changes of mood were dangerous; she |
fling il back to him worthless, because 1t had
been so easily got She wrote a beautiful bold |
phrase She used perfumes. and ID. dipped her body
nineteen years old. and not two months widow.
There is sounded here for the discerning
reader the note Of pathos which is henceforth
10 be inseparable from the story of the fair |
young Queen. the note that too soon deepens
into one OF tragedy. Yet where many student |
would be conscious only Of the tragic drift of
things in this unhappy tale, Mr. Hewlett faith
full 10 his plan Of painting in Mary the woman |
before the Queen, the poor human victim, rather |
than the proud mistress Of fate. steadily keeps
us from considering his heroine IN a strictly
heroic aspect. The squalid comedy" he calls |
the Queens adventure In Of its phases. and !
tacitly he calls IL that in them all He shows |
her again and again. 1t is true. a noble spirit |
put into the very web and texture Of his story
there seems 10 have entered conviction that |
the Queen was. after ALL kind Of splendid ami |
NAL swayed by desire like & reed in the wind; |
suffering horribly, so that the readers heart is
same, for no other reason than that to love and |
be loved was for her the beginning and the end |
OF all things
Her lovers move with extraordinary reality |
through these pages. playing their parts in per-
feet fitness. There is where the practised hand /
of the romancer is, perhaps. most clearly shown. |
His plot, as we have noted above. was cut out |
for him, and in seeking just the right actions |
and words for each actor involved in its de- |
velopmcnt, he might easily have been SO ham |
pered by biographical and historical facts as TO |
have sacrificed spontaneity TO recorded truth |
But Mr.. Hewlett takes his Chatelard or his |
Darnley, his John Knox his Boutwell, and |
while giving each the role assigned TO him by |
history, portrays him with free hand SO TO |
say; makes each portrait all of a piece and Civ
ing il his own sign-manual. snaps his fingers at |
mere archives and memoirs. He does not really |
depart from the essentials of the latter II is /
simply that. by virtue of the fexibility he uses
he attains in the long run greater unity, makes |
the performance Of every figure in his play /
somehow the more natural, the more easily con-
tributive 10 the rapid movement of the whole 1
brave fabric. The reader cannot complain He |
will hardly get from the professed historian. |
writing in too religious awe Of documents" a /
more convincing vignette Of the chief author NJ
the poor Queens undoing than is given 10 him |
.n these lines:
The Earl OF Decentralization she Judged On snite |
Q, tse stricken poppies) 20 be good hurnored-was
a saiiafd or the type esteemed in France those
and there were many-who pronounced vice 10 be
lner klrtee. "A gatard as they say IL there
sqnare-1awed with laugh happy and so r,romnf
thsf the worla. rejoicing 10 hear il. thought All
snust be Wen wherever he might be. He wore brave
clothes, sat a brave horse. kept brave company
feeding. ~ eOo1b caF.