New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-09-01

i ih in the Island of Corsica; Beginning with
Paleole esr i@9 Written by His Son. prosp e.
C'S,r,eAa' I: 0uilercCouch) 12mo. PIP vi 1885,
"hen We first make the acquaintance Of
! "Q's" new hero ne is man we'll on in years.
! WIN more or less mysterious past This
White haired eighteenth century squire has been
| In diplomacy and has had. apparently. every
! chance to Wit fame and fortune but for some
occult reason he has let his chances go. He
had no sooner built reputation" are told,
by services at two or three of the Italian courts
ihan with a knighthood in hand and an ambassa-
oorship In prospect. he suddenly abandoned ALL
cast on the world and retired into Cornwall TO
make humdrum marriage and practise fishing
FOR trout" Why did he do it? That he did il
for love we are not very long In finding out,
but even then the tale is not told We have TO
read the book through to acquire full
i OF all that 1t meant to Sir John Constantine to
4 have loved queen Of Corsica Indeed. he goes
on loving her to the end, and it is for this rea-
son that o. is able to spin once more a de-
| lightful yarn Of adventure.
Sir John sets sail for Corsica, bliths lad,
| for all his white hairs. but some time before
| he leaves he pays a visit to the Fleet Prison.
accompanied by his son. his solicitor and his
! butler. Billy Priske. There they take part In
| scene as quaint any which one Is likely to
meet in our latter day fiction. Thus young Con-
stantne describes it:
"Kneei. boyi' my father commanded. and I
| knelt.
4 ask you, gentlemen" said the prisoner. fac
Ing them and lifting his voice. TO hear and re-
Der what shall do; and by signature to attest
os s "a
years ago by The united voice Of the people people Of
possession OF its revenues and chief dignit,es de-
Gs5 ac @ ns or % Rna of @ a a s
election been annuled. forfeited or invhlidated;
Its G s s.s are
o v mime to enjoy or 70 bs an hf
ing male issue OF my own body resign herewith
| this boy, Prosper Paleologus. of Constantine.
and heir in descent of Constantine. last En-
n 'S Your presenoe and bless my In Your pres-
aGb n MN sa and o e and on S
Prosper |. King of the Commonwealth Of Cor
your names and ali necessary si Writings ccnrnng
it; and beseech you all to pray with me that
e2m and thrive therein as he shall Justly , and
PERI
ivered. standing with bent mead as he had raised
ton--heard my fathers voice say sonorously
Amen! and another-I think the parson freak
have put out hand threatening his weasand. for
the seat v0se eaTd sXs
May ! suggest that i we seat ourselves ana e@
a ono 'hs Kng Theodore stepped to the
ii
The erShef hsyps lao Niece Ss s9 of aon
work In the shape of crown. set with stones of
T u aye sPe Of Hs He fed tSs
for a moment. and, replacing it on the table. took
PT rhG sstd he Contains tn. Great Seal To
whose keeping"-he turned to my father-"am
My father nodded towsra Ry srishsa x r..
at;m WINE MI A"'A 'r''AD "' '
Could man embark upon more romantic en-
terprise than the one which is foreshadowed by
this episode? With army OF six or seven
men and with the crown and seal OF Corsica
done up In a parcel, Sir John and Prosper de-
part for Corsica in small fishing ketch. Two
of the men they enlist utter fools, and
third Is an ancient loon. But Sir John has
never the smallest doubt TO the nationality
of his course, and when. reaching the island
he discovers that the woman he adores is held
captive by the GenOese, he goes TO her rescue
IN the face of circumstances which make his
valor seem mere madness. Here. however -
shows himself at his best. He has drawn
charming Don Quixote in this venerable hero or
his and we follow Sir John with almost unfail-
ing confidence His idealism is beautlrui
thing. and his bookishness which is often COM
ing oddly to the surface brings literary quail
ity into the tale that is as pleasing as 1t is
novel AS q character study he is one OF the
authors best productions. The book is capital,
too in its opening pages and in most Of those
which relate 10 events on Corsican soil when
young Prosper is in the full tide of effort
to estab lish his kingdom. Indeed, one is in
the mood at the end, TO give o. warm COM
mendation But cool criticism must take ac-
count OF certain defects in this romance which
gravely impair its value.
20" is q lover Of farcicaI effects too keen a
lover az he has shown before this. 1t was hard
to forgive him some OF his exaggeratiOns in
The Mayor Of Troy 1t is still harder TO
condone the preposterous horse-pley introduced
into Sir John Constantine" for in this he
starts on a finer note than that Of the EARLIER
story, and lays himself under heavier obliga-
tons to his art and to his reader We can see
plainly enough what he is driving at. There
Is something fantastic about his heros great
undertaking, and he must do what he 10
bring the subordinate figures tremendously into
! the picture TO make his book "all of a piece
Uufor; unately. both his judgment and his skill
have failed him this occasion. and the up
roarious fun he gets cut of several of his char
acters jars upon fastidious The humOr
is overdone. One suspects that % has been
sitting at the feet Of Sterne and one suspects,
into the bargain, that he has remained com
pleteIy insenstive to the essential point of that
masters method, to the real secret OF Shandy-
ism It is great pity. "Sir John Constan-
tine is so finely romantic in it's general texture
that we hate to see II disfgured by fun making
OF n cheap order.