New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-07-18

38 The century OOiHPdHy'
LORE OF PROsERPINE. BY Maurice
Hewlett. Emo, pp. tx, 10 OhaIles
Scribners Sons,
HELEN REDEEMED. And other Poems
BY Maurice Hewlett. limo, PIP IN 80
Charles Scribner's Sons.
Any one Of these books, taken by IL
self, would proclaim the man OF talent
and would seem to mark clearly
enough his leading motive, the taste
the atmosphere, by which one would
henceforth always know him. MI.
Hewlett is an ardent type. What he
feels at the moment he feels with all
his heart. Hence the decisive impress
sion conveyed by single volume from
his pen. You feel that you could build
I'D his literary personality from IL as
the scientist can reconstruct a mann
moth from handful of bones. But
let the reader study together the three
books whose titles are enumera'ed
above and presently he will wonder II
he has not lost a clew where he pc
lieved he had found one, if Mr.. Hew-
lett's secret is not perhaps past finding
out. The problem. as a matter of fact'
is not so very difficult. Indeed, the
oldest, most bewildering thing about
il is nothing more nor less than the
authors own perpleXity. When ali Is
said it is Mr.. Hewlett himself who ap-
pears to be bafFied in this matter a
fact which makes examination OF MS
work doubly piquant.
Long ago he disclosed to an admiring
public what looked like versatility, and
that public, we dare say, is gladly con-
tent to go on giving him all the credit
belonging to the trait. But one may be
versatile and yet not possess gifts Ike
his. and we are constrained TO look a
little deeper for an explanation OF the
changefulness which has always distln-
guished him and in recent years, espe-
ciall, has made him an object OF par
ticular interest to the critic. When he
first came into view with his exquisite
'Earthwork Out Of Tuscany the
fusion Of boollishness and imagination
in that book. the doubling OF the his
torian with the maker Of fiction, seemed
no more than was natural TO YOUNG
man of poetic culture discovering his
Italy and waking up all at once 10
world of human drama and superhu-
man beauty. The stage seemed to be
set simply enough, then, for his literary
career His progress through books
like The Forest Lovers and Little
Novels Of Italy" (his high-water mark
was obvious and inevitable. He hal
genius, it was lain, and his vocation
was fixed. The reader might have been
described at about this time as settling
himself down TO a long and comfort
able relation with one of the most
benefcent Of entertainers, a romancer
certain to reappear upon the scene ju5t
once in so often, and never without
little masterpiece under his arm. Mr..
Hewlett is not 10 blame If he has dis
appointed that expectation, and from
certain point Of view we may even
congratulate him on having refused 10
crafty it. There is always a measure
OF peril about such a relation as that
at which we have just glanced. There
is the danger Of routine, Of doing what
one is expected TO do once too often, of
doing il doggedly and without inspira-
ton. Let us respect, therefore, the in
dependence of mind which caused Mr..
Hewlett 10 range. The age Of the
Thackerays and the Balzacs is gone,
too, and il is we'll for lesser men, no
matter how able TO husband their re-
sources and to be forever seeking new
fields. But shall they not some time
come TO rest? Shall they not sooner or
later drive at some clearly predestined
goal? That is the question raised by
Mr.. Hewlett's three latest books.
For several years prior to their APP
pearance his development had kept
fairly true to the direction he had
chosen at the outset. The only notice
able transition made was from tine full
bodied, richly colored past Of such tales
as Richard Yea and Nay" or The
Queens QUAR- TO the later historical
trappings Of THE STOPPING Lady" and
the even more modern, morbidly
psychological stuff of Halfway House"
and REST Harrow" Though he had
begun to make some strange expert
ments he was still faithful TO the
spirit Of golden romance. He chung to
that even when he turned Meredithian,
both in substance and in style. and to
tell the truth. he clings 10 it still. But
experimentation can be carried too far
and Mr.. Hewlett has been trapped in
the coil Of his own ambition. He has
fallen upon incertitude where once he
knew exactly what he wanted to do
and how to do il. The result is
curious ambiguity about all of the
books now before US Mrs. Lancelot"
is a story that will do, as a story, and
Vet the plot which we follow with sufii-
cient ease and undeniable amusement
is not, after all, the firm-knit fabric,
held together both by character and
incident, which the author might have
made 1t If he had given himself up UNI
reservedly to the novel writer's craft.
4 cold blooded, calculating, selfish
young husband uses his wife as lure
for a great Georgian statesman and
thereby advances his owr interests. In
the upshot a poet comes 10 the lady's
rescue and love clears up an impossi-
lilo situation The hook has DOten-