"THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS."

Grey River Argus, 6 November 1911, Page 7

"THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS."

MEREDITH'S DESCRIPTION OF THE HEROINE.

All faithful readers of Meredith (have ■read "The Tragic Comedians,'' and all student of Meredith know thai in thq Alvan and Clothilde of tho novel, Lasallc— poet, dramatis;,' philosopher, and socialist— with his beloved Helene von Donneges, arc depicted. Recently it was cabled over the 'world that vhe much-married Heleno had committed suicide by means of an overdose of chloral. ' Lassa i lle, n will be remembered/ was killed in a -duel fought on hc> account , Here is Meredith's "".seripdon of his heroine : — "At an carhvag-e Clotddle yon l<udigcr was dissatisfied' with her conquests, though they ware already num. crou's' in her seventeenth year, for she began precociously, having 1 a: her dawn a lively fancy, a womanly fancy a woimanly person, an<l singular attractions of colour, eyes, and style. She belonged by birth tio the small aristocracy of her native land. Nature had disposed her to coquetry, which is a pastime- ccuTtting among the 'arts of fence, and often innocent, often serviceable, though sometimes dangerous in ih'c centres of polished barbarism known as aristocratic i societies, where nature is no; absent, but. on the contrary vary extravagant, tropical, by reason, of her idle hours for 'the imbibing of copious draughts of sunlight. The young lady, of chaiming countenance and ispright'ly manners is too much besought choose for her choice to be decided ; the numbers beseeching prevent her from choosing instantly after the fashion of holiday boya crowding a buffet for pastry. Theso ar c not coquettish, they clutch .wha- is handy,; a little so is the starved damsel of the sequestered village, whose ono object of .the worldly .picturesque is the parsing curate; her heart 1 is his for a nod. But jo be denied.a rdently of trooping hosts is an incentive to taste "Jo try for yourself: Men (the jury of the householders empanelled to deliver verdicts upon the ways of women) can almost understand that. And as ft happens, tasting before you have sounded the senses of your taste, will frequently mislead by a step or, two difficult to retrieve ; ■ the young' coquette mus them be cruel 'as necessarily as we kick the waters to -escape drowning", and she is not". in' all cases dealing with simple blocks or limp, festoons ; she comes upon ■veteran " tricksters that have a knowledge .of- her -sex;- capable of out-fencing . her nascent individuality. The morq imagination she has, for a source of "strength in the future days, 'the more is she a prey, iio the enemy in her. time. of> ignorance. , •

"Ootildo's younger maiden hours and 'their lose episodes "are wrapped- in •the -mists • Diana considerately drops over 'her adventurous favourites. She was not under a French mother's rigid supervision. In France the mother resolves that hor" daughter shall be guarded from the risks •of that unequal eneountiei' between , foolish mr nocence* and .the predatory. Vigilant foresight ' is, not so much practised where the. world is less accurately comprehcntdld.' Youag people • - of_ Clotilda's upper wodd everywhere, and the young women of it especially, arc troubled' from 'an idea drawn from what they ' inhale "and guess, at in -'the spirityo'Us life 'surrounding them,tli.at the servant's of the devil are the vali-•an:'host,--this "world's elects goUing and deserving to get .the best it can in return for "a little dashing^ audacity,, a- flavour of the Fronde dn, their conduct; they sin; but "they have 'the world •: and tihen they repent perhaps- .