The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-06-14

AoE We
deIy MN to lay it down if he once
takes 1t up, he will finish it at a sitting
and count q nights rest well lost. The
author plays with our curiosity as we
play with a hooked trout; there is
something b~ewildering in the multi
pllclty Of incident. sometime almost
la~byrlnthine in the concatenation of
the plot"
He again says:
viewed merely as an example of
intricate yet methodical construction,
Phroso' deserves high commentator.
while, as regards it CON
ta1ns materials enough for a dozen
novels Of the ordinary type"
1t was the very novel to capture
the great mass of novel readers. It
cannot be said of it with a proper re-
gard for accuracy or discomment, that
it is great. but it may be said that it
is entertaining. If you would read
great novels, turn to SCOTS Scotch
noVels, to Thackeray, to Charles Dick
ems. TO George Eliot, to Victor Hugo,
70 Dumas, to Eugene Sue and a few
others. But in regard to the novel by
Anthony Hawkins he calls .Phroso."
1t seems to have captured many critics
as we'll as the reading public, and was
regarded, as | found out later, that it
vas really a of the intensely
exciting, intensely rioting kind. That
1t overlooked. as seems to have been
a leading characteristic, with many &C
cidents of flood and field, and is
really a continued strain of adventure
and excitement, with but little
thought but much vivid description.
Since | wrote at first concerning him,
[ have been interested more or less
IN certain of his writings, the chief
characteristic was eXcitement-there
being a certain attractiVeneSS, but liCt!e
of the calm, reflective quality, but
filled with the unreal and far-fetched
and the unnatural. Novels of this
kind leave a very different impression
with the Intelligent. discussing reader
than that which is made by such a
great writer, such q profound master
of as the great Sir Walter,
who did more to create Romance than
any other h~alf-dozen of the acknowl-
edged masters. Read that snlend'd
masterpiece, The A~ntiquary." and
three or four others of the greatest
Of SCOTS creations. and then cad
novels like Hawkins Cor as he a'ea
wrote himself. Hope's), n you will
feel at once the contrast. The artifi-
cial. nervous, excited strain of Hope IS
in painfully apparent contrast with
the healthfulness, the naturalness, the
mastery character the
s~oundness of tone, insight and wis
dom of the illustriouS story teller of
Scotland. AS one critic said of Hope,
he is one-tenth nature and nine
tenths fantasy. He is brilliant doubt
less, n fertile and dashing, but
there are audacity and varnish and
WhimSicality and Omanti lmaglnlngS
without stint. There were several
writer's twenty years ago of the Hope
school,, and the latest was Charles
Roberts. He was inferior to Hawkins
in some particulars-for instance IT
the cunning art of construction, II
melodramatic situations and striking
disbursements, but he had had force,
dramatic quality that oun to
something, and a deeper sense Of
reality thar the other competitor.
There was less of glamour and more
of nature. But in the list of the writ
ers of hat particular period there was
a painful array Of the best of the then
romantic writer's from the real mas
ters-those marvellous creators and
story tellers who gave you something
more than incidents. ad y%entures and
improbable stories. How 1t is now l
confess to ignorance, as l nave not
read a ~half-dozen novelists of the last
decade
What a man was the great Glad
stone! He was without any real rival
or equal among his ablest. wisest,
truest statesmen Of his time. he
was truly illustrious and potential,
and lived to nearly ninety years before
he passed into the great beyond. He
was q noble, grand man in the highest
sense, and was illustriOus beyond al!
or competitors. Before he
died it was reported that there would
be a vast flood Of essays and b1ogra-
ply to follow his demise. | suppose
that this expectation was realized to
a considerable extent, but owing 70
circumstances l never kept posted
and do not know h proportion or
the prophetic expectancy was really
fulfilled. It was stated while he lived
90 nyr n n inS
had been prepared pon him. and
were awaiting his demise for publica-
t,on. The practice of the London
Times. the great daily of the British
kingdom. to have carefully
by the pest available writer's elaborate
biographies of Britain's great men.
recall hat it was stated that critical
biographies had been published from
time to time of authors and states
men, the writer's who had been dead