New-York tribune., 1916-07-22
DAVENPORT.
DAVENPORT. BY Charles Marriott limo. pp
354 The John Lane Company.

DAVENPORT. By Charles Marriott limo. pp.
3,I The John Lane Company.
This is. an exceptionally able. search
ing and ingenious fctional study OF
double personality. 1t will find many
readers, it is safe to prophesy, in cir
cles interested in psychical research
among Patience Worthless" as one re-
viewer has expressed it-but it de-
serves wider reading, not only by
scientific psychologists, but also by all
who appreciate sterling literary work
manship. The technical difficulties
Overcome BY Mr.. Marriott in the con-
struction and development OF this
story of the subconscious must have
taxed to the full even his amazingly
subtle artistry. Judged from the pure
/ " literary standpoint alone the book
/ is a vcritable triumph.
/ Harry Belsire is in the awkward age
when first we meet him. His father
does not know what TO make of him.
/ The boy is shy, not frank; he has a
way of saying startling things, and
of ascribing them confusedly to books
/ he has read. He even credits Shakes
peare with sayings that have the
! Shakespearian imagery and wisdom.
| but which are not found in the works
of the Bard. The boys father. who IS
parson, is inclined to believe that he
, is a born prevaricator. After he has
gone 10 London to start life for him
self, Harry begins to quote friend OF
/ his whom nobody ever sees. one Dav-
export, a young man unmistakably far
above his own level intellectually, for
Harry himself is at this moment some
what of nut" And it is in the mys-
terry of this Davenport that the story
centres.
But there is more. First of all. a
Mrs. Nugont, dabbling in clairvoyance
and things of that sort, mildly in
/ terested, but no more. And a Mrs.
Orme, restlessly seeking to establish
communication with the idolized sister
whom she has lost. 1t is not the least
of the many telling touches of this
story that the youths psychic possibili-
ties are taken entirely in hand by
women, who seek to exclude men from
their experiments and to control his
associations. The young man, it is
hardly TO be wondered at, grows queer.
! His "psychic gifts" are carefully hid
den from him by the women; he Is
utterly unconscious of the duality Of
loses a whole day out of his life for
which he cannot account-and then he
loses contact with the imaginary Dav-
onport. He goes about in city and
country searching for him.
About this time Davenport begins
to write for the press. This is in
, 1912. His is q voice of warning, vague,
yet impressive. He sees what is to
come within a few years. he would
avert it without naming it, perhaps
because ne himself does not see il
clearly. This mysterious pamphleteer.
whom no editor ever sees, denounces
the self-seeking. the pleasure seeking
and money hunting of the day; he is
under the shadow of the gathering
cloud long before it rises upon the
horizon of the popular consciousness.
Through him Mr.. Marriott gives US
a remarkable picture of conditions and
states of mind in England during the
two years in which the danger steadi-
~ grew and drew nearer.
Here the development of the story
must be left to the author. It's su-
preme merit lies in the impression it
makes of reality. in the growing con-
viction it conveys TO the reader. The
planchette plays its part, the double
personality has the power of materiali-
zation, at least to the commonsense
young woman who loves Harry-in
short, this is in every way "a novel
for Patience Worthless" But even
skeptics and materalists will find it
worth their while as a brilliant lit
erary tour de force.