SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1740, 3 May 1913, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION.

"THE AMATEUR GENTLEMAN." Mr. Jeffrey Famol made a hit, a most decided hit,. with that excellent novel, "Tho Broad Highway." An equal, if not greater, popularity, will, I feel con- , vinced, be attained by his latest production, "The Amateur Gentleman" (Sampson, Low and Co., per Georgo Kobertson and Co.). Here is a breezily written, quite sparkling romance of town and country life during the Regency, a story brimful, in its every chapter, of exciting incident, instinct with the true spirit of romance, dramatic in certain of its episodes, unforcedly humorous in others, and containing some quite remarkably strong and effective character drawing. Mr. Famol hps all the Dumas quality of being able -to not only to plan out an excellent plot, but to toll his story with such'freedom and spirit as to fairly carry away his readers with him, and, easily gaining their attention at tho outset, to allow no possible intervention of suspended interest to mar the general fascination of tho narrative. His hero is Barnaby Barty, humbly born, the son indeed of an ex-prize fighter, who has foresworn the varying fortunes of- tho ring for tho comparative peace of a country iiw. It is tho much-cherished ambition, of Barty Ea-o to make a champion pugilist of. arty fits, but tho lad, who, though sturdy and handy with his fists—as Jie proves to his father in tho opening scenes of the story—has read deeply, and is in reality much better educated than ever his father has doemed him to be. Ho is also naturally well bred, his' mother having been a lady of gentle birth, who had exiled herself from society by her maTriaga with the Champion of England. Consequently, when a long lost relativo in Jamaica conveniently dies, and leaves the young fellow a fortune of somo JC700,000, Barty junior at first politely, and after- • wards most forcibly, persuades his father to let him go up to London, and seo tho world,. .-Vnd so dropping the homely surname of Barty and adopting that of Beverley,' young Barnabas sets forth, a handsome, healthy, sturdy fellow _of twenty-two, knowing, of course, nothing of society and society's ways, but determined to ruffle it with -Hie smartest of the beaux.

Thus begins a romance in which the reader is treated to many adventures on tlm road and in country inns on the way to town, where Mr. Beverley, aided by a 'smart valet, sets up as a fine gentleman and sees life, of the lcind of which Pierce Euan's famous Corinthian Tom and his friend Jerry were typical exponents. Fortunately for Barnabas, he has met on the' wav to Lomlon a beautiful girl, with po'den hair, the Lady Cleone Meredith, with Whom he promptly falls in love, vowing he will marry none other. But the Lady Cleone, a high-spirited mis-chief-loving damsel, has quito a host of suitors, including a gcwl half-dozen of the most fashiimablo young "bucks" in. town. The most dangerous of Barnaby's rivals is a well-bred roue, Mr. Chichester, gambler, duellist, and fortune hunter, a thorough scamp, and tlio hero soon finds him a remarkably tough customer, for Chichester is not only vicious, but absolutely unscrupulous. Also, thero is a very awkward enemy to vanquish in Cleone's dissipated, headstrong, and bad-tempered brother. To give the briefest summary of Mr. Boverley's adventures in London, to tell how he relieves damsels in distress; how ho performs valiant feats with_ fists and pistols; how he ridc9 in and wins a famous race; how, for a time, he is the petted favourite of fashionable society; how ho falls out of favour with Society as a whole, bujf makes a friend of a real live Duchess; how he mixes in low as well as high society; and how, finally, after a bloodthirsty encounter with tho rascally Chichester, ho finds himself back again at the "Coursing Hounil" inn, thero to bo nursed by the "dearest and fairest lady in the world," who, of course, is nono other than tho charming Cleone, is quite beyond tho possibilities of my available space.

Sufßce it to say that all these interesting, and, at times, highly exciting, adventures of the hero are set forth by. Mr. Farnoll with, irresistible entrain. The stage is ever crowded with characters, lords and ladies, gamesters and moneylenders, young ladies and charming young ingenues—there is n subsidiary love story almost as charming as that of Barnaby and his lovely Cleone—and never for one moment ..does tho action flag or the ini terest of. the Teader grow tepid. And, as ! I have said, there is some very fine character drawing in this new book of Mr. Farnoll's. That tho story owes not a little to tho Dickens influence is incontestable. Take Mr. Smivvle, for instance, a down-at-lieels, amusing,. if almost incredibly. impudent- adventurer. Mr. StnivvleV conversational powers aro those of Mr. Jingle, and his sliarp, staccato sentences are exactly those of the Pickwickian adventurer,- whose blandishments beguiled the- elderly and foolish. Miss Wardle. Thus:— *' "My name is Digby Smivvle, familiarly known as 'Dig,' at your service, sir. Stranger to London, sir?" "Yes," said Barnabas. "Ha! Bnd place London, sink of iniquity! Full of rogues, rascals, damn, scoundrels—by heaven, sharks, sir! confounded cannibals, by George!— cat you alive. Stranger myself, sir. Just up from my little placo in Worcestershire—King's Heath—know it, nerhaps? No? Charming village! rural, quaint—mossy trees,' sir—winding brooks, larks and cuckoos carolling all day long. Sir, there has been a Smivvle at the Hall sinco beforo the Conquest! Fine old place, the Hall—ancient, sir, hoary and historic —though devilish draughty, upon my soul and honour!" If Mr. Smivvle reminds us of of tho immortal Jingle, "Mottle-face," the guard of the London mail, is surely a first cousin of the elder Welter. "Vicli, I am vun, sir, ns don't novise expect nothin', consequent am never disapp'inted," says Mottlefacn with a solemn nod; "but, vind an' veather permittin,' vo shall be at tho 'George' o'Soiithwark, at five, or thereabouts "Ha!" says the fussy gentleman, "and what about my valise? Is it safe?" "Safe, ah! Safo as th' Bank of England, unless vo should 'appen to be stopped " And 'then follows, quite in the Dickens style of interpolation, an amusing yarn alKiut Mottlo-face's feythcr's experience with one Black Dan, a famous highwayman of tile period. There is, too, a certain "Gentleman-in-Powdcr," whom Mr. John Smaukor would, I feel sure, have, welcomed amongst his "select company of the footmoii of Bath," and a villainous money-lender, Jasper Gaunt, who owes not a littlo to Ralph Nickleby; whilst Mr. Jasper Shrip, tho Bow Street runner, is quite a Cruikshank and Dickenslan figuro who might well havo stepped straight out of "Oliver Twist." - But if Mr. Farnoll has been influenced by Dickens, he has been influenced t.o good purpose, and I, for ono, do not grumble at his utilization of Bozzinn models. "Tho Amateur Gentleman", contains characters which Dickens might well have been proud of, characters, ton, such ns tho Duchess of Cambcrhurst, which Dii.ckens himself, perhaps, could not havo drawn. But I must close on already over-lengthy notice. "The Amateur Gentleman" is a book to bo bought, to l>e read, and to bo put on ono side for reading again. Glvo me drawn curtains, a bright fire, a clean pipe, and a copy of Mr. Famoll'a latest story, and I would laugh at a roaring .southerly, driving rain' and rattling windows, and bid cheerful and confident defiance to that grim hag, Ennui. Yes, you must certainly read "The Amateur Gentleman;" It is n' "thnoo docker''- with a vngoana—closo

on six hundred pages. But I would not liavo it ono page the shorter.

[Roviowa of Mrs. Humphrey Ward's now story, "The Matins of Lydia," and of several other novels, are held over.]