THE HESPERIAN.
for the most part, only proofs of the prejudice and, in woinc
cases, of the dense ignorance of the so called critics.
As to structure, we may, with full confidence, permit the
play to speak lor itself to all observant readers. To us, the
whole and its several parts all seem clear cut and distinct.
Each scene advances the plot; and the scene ends when its
work 'is done. A character never appears when he is not
needed; and, moreover, he never appears unaccountably, just
because he is needed. The beginning of the play is by no
means equal to what comes later; and yet the preliminary
information to the audience is given most naturally. No one
stands gawkingly with li is face to the audience. No one is
compelled to soliloquize in order that the audience may know
the facts, including his own views. A page suffices to bring
us to the action of the play.
The "heroic suffering to sublime reward" doctrine was ex
plodcd ages ago. The reward may come hereafter Miss
Rives docs not deny this but here the noblest mortals often
suffer most and never cease to suffer. Shakespeare knew
this: Everybody knows it. Idealists arc compelled to ignore
the unpleasant truth, but a realist is compelled to state it.
Miss Rives would probably resent being called a realist; but
to our mind she is one of very few Americans that deserve
the title. The others, no one yet suspects of realism.
Even "sin to punishment" is dubious. But Shakespeare
believed in it; and Miss Rives evidently shares his opinion,
at least in part. Herod sins, and he dies ten thousand deaths.
What punishment could be better suited to his crime than the
horrible, burning torture of his own mind? The less fervent
nature of Macbeth can not know half such agony. Lady
Macbeth goes far beyond, of course; but someday Miss Rives
may depict a woman Herod. We dread to see the picture.
We may say, in passing, that Miss Rives' women are even
more unswervingly true to life than are her male characters;
and we predict that her greatest tragedy will be that of a
woman driven to madness, by remorse.
The gleams of mirth, of sunshine, swill and genial, -are
they lacking? True, we find not one word of levity, not one
boistrous jest, in the whole play. Hut after all, art they not
out of place in tragedy? Do they not grate upon, rather
than soothe, "the mind that is to sup on anticipated horrors."
Men larger than Miss Rives' assailants have thought so; and
we are not prepared to say cither yes or nc. But certain it
is that the mind needs soothing; and in "Herod and Mari
amnc" this is done by delicate touches that arc far superior
to any rude raillery. We shall give but one instance. We
have just seen a disgusting picture of Saloma's fiendishness.
Soon we shall see a picture yet more disgusting, and it will
be terrible as well, for Herod will be there. We arc now
rested, entertained, and even made cheerful by a piece of
boy-play that sometime someone may say is without a riva1
. in all literature. We think that even the sour, dyspeptic
critics must have smiled a pleasant, cheerful smile when they
read this. We should like to quote a few lines, but we have
space for but one quotation, and we wish that one to remove
the last of the objections that have been mentioned.
As to characterization: The whole play is full of striking
examples. If we wish contrast, let us look at Alexanda and
Hyrcanuse, at Herod and Joseph, at Salome and Mariamne.
Hut to show the author's marvelous power, we must turn to
the play itself. Herod and Mariamne have just been engaged
in the most satisfactory interview that they are permitted to
enjoy. Lypros, the stony hearted and designing mother-in-law
of Mariamne, interrupts. Sec how few lines make us
acquainted with the three. We aie content to leave the
reader after he has read this luief quotation:
Enter Cypros.
Cyp. Good my son,
Thy horses wait for thee.
Her. Do thou likewise.
Scest thou not that I am occupied?
Cyp. A wife should urge her husband to his duty,
Not keep him from it.
Her. Out! Such musty maxims
Affront the air. Leave me. I'll send for thec
When I desire thee.
Cyp. Madam, wilt thou bear this
And say no word?
Her. Think'st thou that I'll hear that
And say no word? Depart o' the instant!
Afar. Nay,
I'll wait below. Thy mother hath some message;
Some special word for thee. I will be there,
Fear not, to give thee my last love and blessing.
Now let me leave thec, as I love thee.,
Her. Go, then.
Mar. Why dost thou say't so harshly?
Her. If thou loveclst me
Thou wouldst not be so ready to be gone.
Mar. Doubt'st me again? Remember what thou saidst
A moment past, and to thy word be true.
Her. Well, go. I will believe thee. Exit Mar.
LITERARY.
During a a sojourn in the "cold, cold world," as alumni
arc pleased to designate everything beyond the walls of their
alma mater, I noticed a decided turn of public attention
towards one or two books. For instance just now everybody
is discussing Amclie Rives and Kennan's "Siberia" articles
in the Century. It seems to me there should be at least as
marked a popular tendency in university circles on the cur
rent literature. We might start by forming a faction who
would be properly shocked at "The Quick or the Dead," .
with its corresponding factions, who insist that the evil in the
articles is entirely in the corrupted minds of some of its read
ers. PcrluNis some other author, however, would form more
delectable material. No one pretending to be a student
should leave Kennan's articles unread.
V
1 suppose students generally take the summer vacation to
catch up on their light current literature. I know that is the
case with me; and when it comes to sitting down to give any
impressions of the works read, the lazy, dreamy way in which
the reading was done, during the warm summer months, seems
to have impregnated the whole matter so thoroughly that a
clear cut idea is almost out of the question. I don't hope to
do more in this department than feebly reproduce any stray
ideas I may get from my own reading, as directed by one or
two of our friends in the faculty, and I shall feel amply re
paid if I succeed in directing a students' attention to a work
or an article which has given me a pleasurable or a profitable
hour's reading. I believe I understand how our work presses
upon all of us, but I must confess that I have no sympathy
with a student, who will not find time to do some reading
outside of his course.
I started to say something about summer reading, but find
that I can recall nothing more vividly than a vague, mixed
sensation of pleasure Iroivt reading in Hawthorne, Holmes,
Balzac and George Eliot. Perhaps I remember best the
pleasure which I experienced walking home with a new
novel, by Balzac, under my arm. I think I realized for the
first time the eagerness with which the admirers of
Scott, or Thackeray, or Dickens some of them did think they
were enjoying themselves when they read Dickens- must