New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-09

SHAkESPEAKES
trated i2mo PIP, S35. Longmans Green & Co.
KNOCK AT A VENTURE; By E zen M NnliiiiS
Company.
A CHILD OF THE SHORE. BY Middleton FOX
With Frontispiece. limo, PIP. SUI Johh ihaie-
Antnonv Hone has broken with his past so
enectually that It almost requires an effort on
,he mart of the reader to accept the fact that he
ms once a writer of gay romances- He ro-
,nanoes no longer The peris and prizes OF
zenda are no longer for him. He writes novels
about modern people, living in modern LONDON
and so completely has he gone over TO cohNen-
ton that certain grayness seems now as ha'
ural to him the sunlight once seemed N
pleasantness is. more or less, the fashion to-uay
IN fiction. so Anthony Hope is. in his way fruit
full of unpleasantness in his latest story a
Servant of the Public is little less depressing
shan "Do,ble Harness. but 1t could scarcely be
called an celebrating book. 1t is frank s'uus
Of the art or sport of man hunting as that
pleasant pursuit is followed. according 10 All
thonv Hope by divers charming ladies. Ihere
.re two eligible men in the plot and there are
three women ready TO fall in love. If not all
YnarriageabIe The woman who has an lllcoh-
venient husband in the background is Ora Pin
sent. g. popular actress, who gives the book its
title. She is loved by both OF the men. but
loves only one OF them. One of the other women
captures the titled swain for whom Ora has
only a friendly regard The third woman has
TO look on with resignation while the untitled
hero, Ashley Mead. devotes himself to the &C
tress Yes. dear; we must take what we can
ret. YOU know" says one Of the mattresses to
her unlucky sister. in a conversation on the all
engrossing subject. and the sentence we'll ex-
presses the spirit by which the three salient
feminine figures in "A Servant of the Public
are moved.
They all have their points Of dignity. but they
all devoted to the chase and however true
to his models Anthony Hopes portraits may be
they make rather modifying company. Even
poor Alice Muddock. who has high ideals and
carries herself with reserve. is obviously
the woman whose complaisance goes SO far that
she can think twice of her lover after she has
seen clearly that he is in another woman's tolls
We hear the reader asking TO remember
human nature. We remember 1t. But Alice
Muddock does not prove her case. She seems
less an illustration of the truth than illus
fration of that subtle morbidity which of late
years has crept into Anthony Hopes pages. No
doubt this author could demonstrate that there
is nothing unnatural about scene in which the
lover of actress, acting from the best
tives in the world pays her husband a thou
sand pounds to get out of the country; but
of the actors in this very scene remarks on its
close, 1T seems TO me the room StlnKS, ana
we agree with him. Furthermore. we do not
like TO be invited by a novelist. least OF all by
a novelist with Anthony Hopes record. to enter
that kind of a room There is nothing more TO
he said about "a Servant of the Public" save
that IL shows IN the dialogue that the author
has at least preserved his grasp upon the tech
nique Of his trade
Mr. CUTLER opens his new book of
with abetb riec
for him, is positively dull. It is to be supposed
that he wanted to give u.s. IN ''Shakespeare's
Christmas that picture of the time which is
SO often the ambition Of the novelist: probably
he thought too that II would be q fine thing to
show us the poet 'in his habit he lived"
AS a matter of fact, 90 has produced in this
tale nothing more than a. 1imsy bit Of puppet
work and the reader who Jared no further in the
book would scarcely be to blame. But it is
worth while to go on. for the six other stories
are all good. I'VE Sexes Give Ear is a de-
lightfully humorous Cornish tale, and in
.'Frenchman's Creek and THE Man Behind the
Curtain" the author is as skilful as ever in
digging good material out of his beloved Duchy.
He is at his best likewise. in his two stories of
the Peninsular war. that other field which he
has recently worked to such good purpose. In
short, recommend those who like entertain
ing yarns to read ''Shakespeare's Christmas
MISUNDERSTANDING "Shakespeare's Christmas"
knock at a Venture" 10 q collection of ten
Dartrnoor stories written by Mr.. Phillpotts with
the sense of drama in which he is rich. and
with the feeling for landscape sentiment in
which he is even richer. Long absorption in the
charm Of the region from which he always
draws his background has taught him how TO
blend that charm with his human issues so
deftly and with such sincerity that we could
not imagine any Of his personages without the
familiar environment. He goes to the very
bosom Of nature for his inspiration. and we
recognize her influence in his work, comforting
fine breadth upon his tragic episodes and
communicating as admirable a neowness to
his humorous tales. "Corban' is model of
drollery saved from the tawdriness which it's
climax would have brought into the page in
other hands A truthful, sympathetic book is
this bundle Of curious yet simple anecdotes.
Something than suggestion of the
supernatural, not to say the submarine. per-
vades the story that Middleton Fox has woven
into literary form about of the old Cornish
"drolls," or legends. in "A Child of the Shore"
The plot as the origin of the tale would in
dicate is Of elemental simplicity. Strange sea
influences mysterious invocations Of the
powers that dwell beneath the waves are in
yolved in the birth of the heroine. the daughter
of plain and humble folk. toward the close of
the eighteenth century. She has grown into a
weirdly lovely foreign looking girl when the |
SQuires handsome returns invaded from
the wars. There is a rejected sutton of the |
mothers. with long memory, to play the SER
penis part; and the climax is little classic Of
poetic justice infused with Cornish superstition.
The author is happier where he adheres most |
closely to the old legend and in his descriptions