The sun., 1904-06-05

I building up a plot and investing It with
1 mystery, give me dear old Wilkie Conihs
] against the world" George Eliot's meher
seemed to him to consist principally IN
describing with marvellous accuracy the
habits, manners and customs OF animal
culas, as they are seen under the micro
scope Ouida, he declared had emerged
from dirt to decency and even dignity. he
knew OF nothing in literature, he once
asserted, more touching and beautiful than
the tale Of Two Little Wooden Shoes v
Miss Braddon, whom for a long time dis
position 10 underrate prevailed, he pro-
nounced as quiet, as modest and unas-
suming az she is accomp lished. Her fer
tility o! invent ion Is boundless, her industry
phenomenal, her style sound and vigorous,
and she has rare dramatic instinct Rice,
who, so long as he lived. was Besants col
laborstor, Reade deemed a capital fellow.
and one Of the best constructors OF story
going" Besant himself was credited with
fertility. invention, pathos, humor. power.
Except that he Is occasionally too discursive.
he has all the qualities OF great author. and
he is not vet at his zenith" Reade confessed
that Payn's stories had beguiled him Of
many weary hour. For accuracy. OF
detail ingenuity OF construction and sus-
tained interest. he presses hard upon the
heels of Wilkie Collins, while he has quaint
grace OF manner and an occasional epigram-
matte sprightlness all his own" To the
question what he thought of Hardy and
Blackmore, he answered.: Big men. sir.
big-almoet as big as they are made now
adays. Those two divine girls Bathsheba
and Lorna Doone-I'm in love with 'em
7 ket "a
laborer and the big fellah. John-John-
! forget his name. When ] read Lorna
Doone' can see Exmoor smell the bracken,
hear the rush Of the roaring river Some
hing was said of the author of -Les Mis-
erables.- Reade exclaimed: Victor Hugo?
All, now you speak of demi-god
Why. man. ne doth bes,ride the narrow world
Like Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
-He is the one supreme genius OF the epoch
but geniuses. unfortunately. sometimes
have the nightmare like other people
George Sand. ha> thought. should have
been a man. for she was a most manly
woman" Naturally. the creator of THE
Cloister and the Hearth" was no depreciator
of historical novels. One day, when he
and Coleman we're chatting. he declared
that glorious old Alexandra Dumas has
never been properly appreciated; he is the
prince Of dramatists. the king of romano
lists, and the emperor Of good fellows
He went on to proclaim Walter Scott one
of the worlds benefactors. but added that
he had the good luck to have the first in
nings in The Land OF the Leal."
While Reade maint aimed firmly that
there is no nobler vehicle in which to give
expression to thought than nervous, simple
prose, he adored the master works of poetry.
though he evinced less sympathy for con-
temporary poets than for those of the pre-
ceding generation. Tennyson he regarded
as more pretty than potent He and
Coleman went together to see Tennyson's
play. THE Cup" performed at the Lyceum.
Reade remained ominously silent during
the entire performance. When the play
was over his companion incurred: What
do you think of it?" HIN. Perhaps it
might have proved an interesting spectacle
d the words had been left out" Browning.
he conceded. was a man Of genius. but
he gives me too much trouble to understand
him." Swnburne, he said, -has heart Of
gold, d muse Of fre-a little too fiery. per-
haps; but I was young once myself. and l.
TOO, loved, and still love, the great god
Pam We are told that Reade when poetry
was the theme. always harked back to
Byron, Shelley and Scott. The last. how
ever, was his greatest favorite. and he
wonld recite by heart, with fervor, long
passages. almost cantos. OF 'Marmion'
and The Lady Of the Lake" Of what he
called "the Shakespearean craze Reade
would complain bitterly. maintaining
stoutly that the people who talked most
of the bard knew least about him. In a
more genial mood, however, he admitted
frankly the supremacy Of him he termed
the celestial thief to all men who came
before or after him. Coleman recalls that
If | could only set him going about 'Othello'
which he proclaimed the one perfect
play produced through all the ages-he
would discourse thunder and lightning
We learn that in confidential conversa-
tions with his friends Reade was by no
means averse to a discussion Of the merits
of his own novels. thou gil, curiously enough
yet not so curious when We remember
that Milton preferred Paradise Regained'
to paradise Lost"-he liked best to talk
about his plays, which he valued much more
highly On the contrary, the compiler
of this biography, although himself a
manager and an actor, was most interested
in his friends books. Among them all he
sturdily maintained the supremacy OF
The Cloister and the HEARTH" but. in the
case OF novels as in that of dramas, Reade's
own barometer was failure or success,
and he declared that he would never travel
out Of his own age again. Il write for the
public he said -and the public don't
care about the dead. They are more inter-
eeted in the living. and in the great tragi-
comedy OF humanity that is around and
about them. and environs them in every
street. at every crossing. in every hole
and corner. An arstocratic divorce suit,
the last great social scandal. a sensational
suicide from Waterloo Bridge, a woman
murdered in Seven Dials, or a baby found
stran gled in a bonnet box at Piccadilly
Circus, interests them much more than
Margaret's piety, or Gerard's journey to
Rome. For one reader who has read The
Cloister and the Hearth, a thousand have
read 1t Ia Never Too Late to Mend. The
paying public prefers a live ass to a dead
lion. Simiio sim,libus. Why should the
ass not have his thistle? Besides, thistlee
are good, wholesome diet for those who
have stomach for them. No. no! No
more doublet and hose for me; henceforth I
stick to trousers"