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Show ' THACKERAY'S 'HENRY ESMOND.' ! The mind of the reading: public of to-i to-i day is as insatiable of things fresh and novel as was the appetite of the legen-j legen-j . dary dragon for young and beautiful maidens, and doing: their best to sup- ply this demand the swift pens of the j young novelists have had no small suc cess. But though new and attractive I book titles rapidly succeed each other R ' in tne book sellers' window, the lives of if I 'Jch books- are as short as the taste ' they strive to meet is fickle, and they j move not one inch from their position as classic literature, those graceful r, tales during many years loved and ap proved by the elect of the literary art. ' No writer of the early part of the nineteenth century has been more read i and discussed than William Makepeace 1 Thackeray, for his books are mirrors wherein we see reflected the life and J . manners of the:ime in which he lived, and his characters, will survive long af-',! af-',! ter "Phroso," "Robert Elsmere" and j "numerous others are buried in the-dust : i : of the upper book shelves. j ' But it is with Thackeray's "Henry t J Esmond" that we have to do "Henry ! I Esmond." that quaint, pure, sweet ' I auto-biography that holds one without I ' effort and charm by its very simplic- ! ity. I It is almost needless, to tell the story j (I of the lonely little Huiry's boyhood, I his youthful devotion to Lady Castle- I wood, which ripened into love: his in- fatuation for Beatrix, her daughter; his'; I life at Cambridge and service in the! I army; his allegiance to the Pretender , party, his suhs-equont marriage with. f Lady Castlewood and finally their em-barking em-barking for America and happy end. 8 j Each of these points calls uo a host , of reflections in the mind of him who jFl l'as followed the facinating tale iV ihrough all its ins and outs of joy f and sorrow. jW In bold relief against the background m of rather weak character stands the fj . true man and hero. Henry Esmond. From the moment we meet him in the $ i deserted room of Castlewood till he ' 1 gracefully closes the pagf-s of his mem- I ; j! oir. his is seldom but a life to love and i x'' ,a character to admire. What could be j I a nobler act than the renmincinsr of his j f ' birthright, what more constant than ! his affection for Peatrix? But it seemed ' Ft range that a love so constant during i Df' stiace of ten years' should be so i ' suddenly metamorphosed into complete) indifference at the instance of h.T last i and greatest ' foil v. Another trait ! , -which is hardly a laudable one is the : f easy manner in which Henry was , turned front one religious view to an- j i , other, seemintr not to have a mind of' i'i hi own in su-h matters, but to weakly ' f j' mirror the views of Ladv C.ustlewood. ( I! I?ut these are but faws if the gem of i li his character, for we cannol but love j !j j him at home, admir'him t court and H ' I;nid him in the battlefield. f I' Still it is . with some slight regret I I that we read of his marriage with Lady ' I Castiewood at the close, and t appears ! it. probahle that this regret irises from ?4 two causc-s: First, from the seniority J of Lady Castlewood. for we must re- member that Henrv was but a child ! when his ladv was first married, and If thuf we come to look unon her throueh the course of the memoir, rather as his , footer mother than as his prospective ! bride. And. secondly. U might arise 1 1 from the freouert mcnt'ion of Beatrix f throughout the book so freouent a II mention that "with nil her faults we jl love her still." and the wish lurks in I the reader's heart that these faults will il turn r,i;t mere girlish whims and that p- Beatrix will be the real heroine of the ,-' j tale. 4 ' But 1here is one person who figures H in this pioture of life, nnd though evi- f deptly not n favorite with the author. rover does an unworthy action L'. through the course of his life! and that p ' 1 trank Castleweiod. Esmond hints & that he was rather wild when frst in it the army, but be was but a lad. and in i A society permeated with wickedness. Evn when but a boy jp years he is in- I I trerid and courageous, for witness the )! fearlessness with which he angerel V' - Tvord Molum to provoke him to ouar- rel. Also which is by no means a small thing, be had the courage to stand ' J frmlv by his convictions. although . I Thackeray sneers at this with his ac- '.. customed bigotry. 5 -And in tbi connect ion a word must f i " Tie said of Thpekeray's conception of i Father Holt. Tn him the author hns I fc. comhmed the oualities tht e-o to the I ''I making rtf the convent ioni Tesuit. rf. i cording to the popular meapinc- r, bit I?' x-ord. He sneers at that ehufehrr.-n'5 J theolopr; be nttributcc ti -.i-.- I cowardly and mean actions. :.-n Jgenernllv despicable. r-i the work the churev an'1 '(- .--" -'r-.rc l pre sneered at and -idir-u1o-i. n tt I ' would be conlrary to reason to e--ieot 1 1 one of her nriests to be renresent"'' in I tiny but the most unfavorable colors, i Tn thi Thackerav shows the ni-:t of j vi'lc-nr bigotry that characterize the 1 time. j j T.adv Castlewood cannot receive n- finaHfied pdmiration. for though few. -I Tuit. beautiful, qualities mingle in her cno'tion, yet thev seem to receive the v. j!vi. I I of jealousy, which remained a predom- inant characteristic until her death, i We can hardly sympathize with her i in her grief over her daughter's bad j end, for she had carefully sown the seeds of that very end in her over-in-! dulgence of that passionate child, for Beatrix had a good heart and the ! strong nassions that, when well di-I di-I rected. make a .noble nature. Still : Ladv Castlewood is a sweet, womanly i character, and if we do not always ad-! ad-! mire in nearly all instances we cannot : help loving her. h But poor, beautiful, talented Beatrix! j How she comes before the mental vis-i vis-i ion with her roguish face and bright ; hair, and coaxing, pretty ways. No I small wonder was it she was petted ' and spoiled. We cannot blame, but only pity her. Her faults were carefully developed de-veloped and her virtues stunted till we consign her mercifully to oblivion. We long to earn that experience and trouble will bring her nobler qualities to light. But, alas, her nature was like j a nlant which had many turns ana i twists and was too closely twined vfith ; ' the brambles and thistles, and it was j ! in vain we honed. j Among the greater r.ersonages that I move on the stage of this play of life we catch .glimpses of those who act I epSer parts as. Lord Castlewood, Lady ! Castlewood, Dowager, Richard Steele I and Joseph Addison. Lord Molum, the I never-failing villain, and last the vacil-i vacil-i lating James Stuart, j The style of the story is graceful and i polished, as one would expect in a . memoir of a scholar such as Esmond I is represented to be, and never does' the i author deviate from the point of view, i which, of course, is that of a person j himself acting in the drama. The tale i is well woven and carries one along ' from incident to incident without fa-! fa-! tiguing by lengthy descriptions or by over-rapid action. Nowhere can be ! found an impossible incident or person, but all is fo within the boundaries of reality that one loses sight of the fact that it is but a tale and not truly the memoir of Henry Esmond, ue cannot can-not see the art. but we feel it. and in this Thackeray shows that he is truly worthy tj rank as a master of fie--tion. In this, not o much as in his other works, is the keen vein of satire promi-nont promi-nont the satire of one who, standing aloof, sees the follies of mankind and sneers. But taking it throughout, as a charming story and a model of exquisite ex-quisite workmanship, we may be proud to hand down to posterity this classic of the nineteenth century Thackeray's delightful creation of "Henry Esmond." MYRA WOOD. Class '00. |