A DUTCH NOVEL.*
IN 1878 there was published in Holland, under the name In Dagen von Stryd, a novel that made a stir in the little kingdom such as is rarely accorded there to a literary event. The book was favourably noticed by the most eminent Dutch critics, and when it further transpired that the name upon the title-page was but a pseudonym, that the author was not only a woman, but quite a young girl, who had only just stepped out of her teens, the daughter of the well-known Dutch scholar, Professor Opzoomer, of the University of Utrecht, enthusiasm knew no bounds. The work was simply pronounced a literary phenomenon. And for once, panegyrics were not exaggerated. It is truly re- freshing, in these days, to come upon a work of such unquestion- able excellence ; and when we take into account the youth of the author, and then read the wealth of original and admirable reflections with which her pages are studded, admiration becomes coupled with amazement. It has been said that until a writer has attained his thirtieth year he can write no good novel, that only then comes the philosophical calm that permits us to regard men and things with objective analysis. In Troubled Times proves this dictum erroneous, or at least not universally applicable. Whence did the author gain all this world-wisdom ? we ask, amazed. A whole sheaf of words of wisdom, wit, and pathos could truly be gleaned from her pages. In Troubled Times is an historical novel, but even in days when the historical novel has gone out of favour this work can be read with pleasure. Here is no flaunting of archasological lore, such as we encounter in the modern fashionable German novels; and while the part that the affairs of the world play is never neglected, it is so cunningly made to blend with that of the characters that the effort is not too visible. The. construction of the plot is skilful, and the manner in which the author has avoided the introduction of irrelevant episodes is specially praiseworthy, since it is a danger into which the very character of the book might have caused even more experienced feet to stumble.
There are various points of view from which to judge this book ; there is the historical stand-point, and there is the analy- tical. We are introduced to the history of the Netherlands just a little before that grand drama occurred which was to free it from the Spanish yoke. We everywhere see the drama pre- paring, but the actors themselves little surmising as yet how difficult were the parts they would be called upon to enact. Not yet had the actual leader of either of the contending parties spoken a decisive word, but the mutterings of wrath were grow- ing louder day by day, and the principal personages of the novel are among the leaders and wire-pullers of the movement. But Miss " Wallis's" study has been rather to give us an insight into their moral life. She has drawn Margaret of Parma, the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Alva, and many of the younger Flemish nobles, with extreme skill and delicacy of insight. Indeed, the figure of Margaret of Parma is a most subtle character-study. We behold her love of empire, her grief at losing the only thing life had left her to care for, her womanly vacillation in decisive moments, her dignified resignation to the inevitable when Alva comes to displace her. Admirably is the policy of the Government put before us, with its principle of pitting its subjects against each other in order to make them more dependent on its administration, a policy that in the end defeated itself, for it turned out only tools, not characters capable of acting with self-reliance in the presence of unexpected peril. The Governtnent distrusted its subordinates, the sub- ordinates were suspicious of the Government. Every page of the work proves that Miss " Wallis " has not only carefully studied her materials, but, what is rarer still, she has so thoroughly assimilated them that she writes and moves naturally in that century, and hence we are spared just that undigested mass of facts which render historical novels so unpalatable as a rule. Still, Miss " Wallis's " true province is the study of human nature and human life, and she has put forth her best strength in dealing with the children of her fancy, who stand out so vividly and graphically against the rich background .of that tale, so oft told, so ever moving, of the Netherlanders' glorious struggle. We are indebted to her for some "distinct
In Troubled Times. By A. S. C. Wallis. Translated from the Dutch by E. J. Irving. 3 vols. London : SonnensoheM and Co. 1883.
creations ; there are characters in this book that should live beside Romola and Tito, Becky SharP and Colonel Newcome, and many another immortal personage of fiction. Such are Reynold de Meerwonde, who may be called the villain of the story, were the author not too philosophical, too well acquainted with life and its workings to know that in this chequered world there are neither unmitigated saints nor villains. With calm analytical touch, with deep insight into the workings of an astute mind, are we shown his career, from the time of his boy- hood of blasted aspiration to the hiding-place where the baffled traitorof his country, convinced too late that there are such things in life as love and honour and ideal truth, ends his life by suicide. Etched as with a burin is the sketch of Alva's assistant, the Count of Viale, as we behold him repudiating a rash and un- equal marriage, bereaved alike of the son he had sinned for and the son he sinned against, and finally receiving the ducal coronet which had been his life-long ambition, to feel it scorch his remorseful brows like molten lead. In Helena, the heroine, who from her position as the only daughter of a scholar wholly absorbed in his books, as well as from mental resemblances, is obviously cousin-german to Romola, we see the development of a noble womanhood take place before our eyes ; while in her lover, Edward, also not without resemblance to Tito, tkwugh less strongly pronounced, and in the end repudiated altogether, we behold how a weak and wavering character can attain to a spiritual manhood and moral dignity which at last enable him to reject love, rank, and power, in order to die a hero's death for his creed and his native land.
That the author has been a diligent student of George Eliot is visible from every line of her book. Like her master, religious experiences, struggles, and questionings have an irresistible attraction for her ; like her master, the conflict between good and evil, faith and scepticism, duty and inclination, constitute the keynote of her work. The stern doctrine that every sin brings its punishment, every act its consequences, that crimes, though they may be expiated by repentance and suffering, can never be effaced or prevented from working out their deadly effect, is enforced as emphatically as by George Eliot, with tragic fidelity to the real experience of life. Like her model, she has a tendency to run into excessive lengths, unable to restrain an over-strong leaning for psychological analysis. She, too, loves to sound the mysteries of the human heart. In the management of her plot she rises above her master. In Troubled Times is as artistic as a story as it is excellent as the product of an original and independent thinker, and a more gentle and human spirit pervades it than is the case with George Eliot's later novels. We feel we come in contact here with a being who feels as we do ourselves, not one who beholds us from a lofty eminence as
"Impotent pieces of the game He plays."
It is quite difficult to tear ourselves away from a book which, once opened, holds us with irresistible force, and about which so much can be said from so many different points of view. For example, great praise is due for the manner in which the rival sects are placed before us. Here is not the common picture of the Protestant always arrogantly in the right, the Catholic always persecuting. We gain an insight into the better, nobler feelings of both factions ; we also see that Catholics who depre- cated the cruelties of the Church were far from rare, and that the Protestant was often the provoker of strife, many a time the more intolerant and fanatic of the two. The book forms a valuable commentary upon the great work of Motley, as historical novels can do, if conceived and executed in a proper spirit, show- ing us the little traits, the little parts that went to make up the whole, and which history proper has no space to dwell upon.
Our very sincere thanks are due to Miss Irving for making us acquainted with this book, and we would express our thanks the more emphatically that, unhappily, we cannot bestow praise upon the mode in which she has executed her task. If Miss Irving be indeed our countrywoman, as her name and preface would lead as to suppose, she has obviously lived so long dis- tant from her native land as to have forgotten its speech. Only the very real excellence and interest of In Troubled Times enabled us to grapple with this English, clumsy and inelegant at its best, at times so absolutely un-English as to render the author's mean- ing unintelligible. Dutch idioms, literally translated, abound, to the great confusion of the reader unacquainted with that language. And were he acquainted with it, he would read the book in the original, where its charming style and epigrammatic utterances have not had to suffer from the rude baud of a translator to whom applies too painfully that cynical Italian saying, " Tradattore, traditore." There is yet another hin- drance to the enjoyment of reading this English version, and this is the astonishing number of printer's errors with which each page is defaced. Of this we must hold Miss Irving blameless. It is quite obvious that the pub- lisher cannot have furnished her with proof-sheets, or such gross errors could never have been passed. The poor type, cheap paper, and general careless get-up of the book are also no recommendation to the publisher. It would be well for both author and translator if this edition were withdrawn from circu- lation, and a better printed, carefully-revised reissue took its place. Then, and then only, will In Troubled Tbnes take the rank it should as a remarkable production. We hope that the latest work by this author, Vorstertgunst, will also find its way into English, the boundaries of Holland are too narrow for such a genius, but we trust that if Miss'Irving again renders us this service, She will let some English person revise her manuscript, and insist that the publisher does his part also to render her work as attractive and as perfect as may be.
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