Show SPR1NGIUYEN Mr R D Blackmore given several fine novels to the world In the case of Springhaven his latest effort however the word foisted is much more appropriate ap-propriate than given Springbaven is a gift the reading public most reluctantly re-luctantly accepts from the hands of Mr Blackmore It is a literary fiasco only passing current because it is stamped with the authors name Mr Blackmoro has earned the reputation of the greatest great-est writer of English fiction of the day Should he present the public with a second sec-ond Springhaven the above quoted expression will be in itself a very great fiction Mr Blackmores story deals with the stirring days of the threatened Napoleonic invasion of England The giant footsteps of Napoleon and Nelson traverse his pages and truely those gigantic strides are confined to narrow ground With immortal Trafalgar and the great land and naval encampment of the First Consul at Boulogne among his working materials Mr Blackmore has instead of raising a literary monument to himself and the age of giants whereof he writes only succeeded in setting up a very obscure ob-scure milestone The story opens in the spring of 1802 on Englands western coast Admiral Darling and it is a comfort com-fort to the reader and a vindication of Englands naval heroes to know that this admiral is a fictitious character is in charge of the coast defenses This admiral ad-miral is an old companion in arms of Lord Nelsons and is also an old fogy of the most unfortunate description a double fact to which lie is indebted for his prominence in the pages of Springhaven This admiral has two daughters one of whom is Ua giddy thinga girl of our own period pe-riod chucked neck andcropSnto the past to help gratify the grudge the pages of Springhaven prove that Mr Black more entertains against the early days of the eighteenth century The other sister sis-ter is likewise an importation but she comes from the other way being apparently appa-rently lugged in from the fanatical family circle of one of Cromwells Ironsides or caught on the fly from the sour cargo of the Mayflower Mr Blackmores idea in these extraordiordinary sisterly creations is unknown unless it was for the sake of Vivid contrast The alleged al-leged hero of the story is an English youth with modest fair hair and retiring blue eyes who on the milk and water with which Mr Blackmore plentifully crams him performs those prodigies of English Eng-lish valor on the vast and briny deep which are usually associated with a bull neck and a double allowance i allow-ance of grog This mild English naval explosive and bashful destroyer of the French rejoices in the name of Scuda more Blyth Scudamore and the more he scuds the less blithe he becomes Mr Caryl Carne is the villian of Spring haven He is of English father and French mother and the demands of the English pubic and the situation are probably responsible for the placing of the noble character of the English parent in the background and the bringing to the front of the maternal French villainy There is a perfect jam in the pages of Springhaven of stupid and arrogant English country families and brutal and ignorant English peasants peas-ants The interesting dialogues of these entertaining characters is the principal feature in the absorbing interest of the book The two admirals are both finally slain Nelson at Trafalgar because it is a matter of history and Darling because he deserved to be killed Mr Caryl Came is evidently afraid of a similar Nemesislike action on the part of the author and so he blows himself up It is to be regretted that all of the rest of the characters did not manifest a similar consideration In fact Springhaven is a matter of regret in one hundred and fifty pages |