New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-10
1 RonANnER,a RErrRN.

The serial by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which
is now running in The Tribune under the title
Of "Sir Nigel has double interest. 1t is to
begin with. the work of man who has the
narrative gift and may therefore be expected to
make the most Of any theme; but it is also the
work OF an author whose name has for several
years past been identified with entirely different
motives. This story Of the fourteenth century.
having for its hero a young English squire,
comes from the pen which has done more than
any other to develop our latterday school of
detective" literature. The atmosphere of the
piece is no new one it is true, for Conan Doyle.
This latest production of his is fabricated, In
fact, of much the same stuff that went to the
making Of 1.-THE White Company" which he
published just fifteen years ago. But Sher-
lock Holmes has, to a great extent, dominated
The authors mood since then, and in this new
story we witness the return Of q romancer, the
revival Of old springs of interest in the work of
one who had seemed to have completely made
over his artistic temperament Is it too much
to assume that Conan Doyle has thus begun
needed reform in current fiction?
The story Of burglarious crime and its pun
ishment, or, more often, its reward, has OF late,
been put altogether too much in the foreground
When Conan Doyle invented Sherlock Holmes
he captured the world by dint of making that
redoubtable individual a type CT phenomenal
acumen If he wreaked great stores OF IN
genuity upon the elaboration Of criminal leases"
it was only TO give his hero a chance to prove
his almost miraculous resource in the solution
of such problems. But Doyle's imitators started
without anything like so legitimate an inspira-
ton They saw only the effects OF suspense
surprise and excitement to be gained from Cne
exploitation of episodes involving novel infrac-
tons Of the law and so they have poured forth
volumes of stories giving only the same thrill
from a
of the police court Little by little the en-
+busiastic narration of skilfully carried out
crime has merged itself In the even more fervid
celebration of the skilful criminal type, ana
how deleterious all this literature" has become
the reader may gather readily enough from
tbe confessions made by more than one young
thief spurred to emulation or imaginary ueeus
of wiekedness over which clever writer's nave
sought to throw the glamour Of romance
T+ne romance is confined to no time or place.
# NAV bloom anywhere as flower may some
times bloom in a Granny of a prison wall But
IN fiction its fragrance is false if it has tact-
+iors ORIGIN. Its roots must be wholesome, else
# will take on, no matter what us superhcla4
cbsracteristics may be- all the evil properties
of q really poisonous growth 1t is to an essen
tally wholesome conception OF romance tnal
Conan Doyle reverts in Sir Niger. teaFo
ooo when he wrote "The White Company, the
novel to when THIS Is d Cot 4,i.r
duced therein ballad of the bowmen whlcn
ends in this wise:
What of the men? .,a
The men were bred in England
THE nowmen-the yeornen-
the lads of dale and fell
Here's to you-and to YOU
To the hearts that are true ,.,,
And the land where the true hearts dwell
It is Of hearts that are true" that the author
NJ "sir Nigel writes, and In so doing we pc
Iieve he makes an appeal to which the reauer
- -. = - =; ,A.,,1;a rlv ready to respond