LITERARY.

Otago Witness, Volume 26, Issue 1705, 26 July 1884, Page 26

LITERARY.

HALF HOURS WITH THE BEST AUTHORS.

By Ivanhoe.

G3! RGE ELIOT'S "ROMOLA."

Concluded.

The fh b scene of the etory opens with the introduction of Tito Melema, a Greek Bcholar, young and handsome, who has been shipwrecked, and fcund his way to Florence.

Through the influence of Nello, a barber, who is one of the amusing characters in the book, Tito is invited to the house of a blind scholar named Bardi de Barclo, who is the father of tho heroine, Romola. Tito is inBtalled as secretary to Barclo, and is daily in the company of Romola, the natural consequence being a strong mutual affection between the Florentine maid and the handsome young Greek.

The plot of the story hinges on the neglect of Tito to search for and to rescue his adopted father, who has been sold into slavery, although ho has jewels belonging to his relative that would effect his ransom. .

The consequences arising from this sin of omission are developed step by step until the culprit is entangled in a net of tha utmost complexity. Tho marriage of Tito to Romola ; the appearance of Baldassare, the adopted father of Tito, at the most inopportune season, when the young scholar is beginning to rise to influence and wealth ; the contending passions that usurp Melema's mind, and the domestic compUcatioDs that arise, are described inmost striking colours. Girolamo Savonarola, a monk of the Order of St, Dominick, who is swaying with the magic of his eloquence the people of Florence fiom the Church of the Duomo, is brought forward as one of the most interesting characters in the book. When Romola flees from her husband, although she had never recognised the influence of the Church, she is brought, by the wonderful power of this man, to return to Florence and her duty. The mock marriage of Tito to Tessa, a simple contadina, and its consequences, make up an interesting feature in the book. Baldassare has dogged the footsteps of Tito with a determination to have his revenge, and at last ho succeeds.-

Tito Buddenly loses his popularity, is hunted by ' the mob, plunges into the Arno, and is found, half -drowned, by his father^ who finishes his career in the most iguominious manner by strangulation, dying himself in the effort.

After the execution of Barnardo del Nello, the godfather of Romola, for alleged conspiracy against the State, Romola again flees from Florence. Launched on the open sea, wretched and alone, hapipg for an easy but speedy death, her boat is drifted opposite a plague-stricken village, where Romola arrives in time to rescue many of the inhabitants from aickneps. and death, and is worshipped as the Madonna. ' Again she returns to Florence, to find her husband dead ; but she determines to fulfil her degtiny b.y being a second mpther to the children which TosHa has borne to the faithless Tito, and to be a ministering angel to the Florentines \a all sicknoss and trouble. The novel of "Romola" is a high work of art, as being true to nature in its conception, and completed in colours that are deep and lasting. The unfolding of the secret springs of human nature and the masterly develop I ment of the motives and paasionß of our lives, have given the author a place second only to Shakespeare as a delineator of character or a deep interpreter of our inmost thoughts. | What are the varied aspects of the power displayed in thiß work ? In an interpretation of the transition from the ancient to the modern spirit ; in a word-painting of the manners, customs, and ways of speech of; the people of Florence at the close of the fifteenth century ; in many touches, true to nature, of the passions, sorrows, and trials, and even of the lightest fancies of a remote but interesting people ; in the teaching of duty under all circumstances and conditions of life — the leading characteristic of all being the development of the history of two souls, and of the attained purity, strength, and fervour of a third. ;

The . framework of the picture is skilfully interwoven, with sketches of the city's everyday life, its feast and fast days, its market and Church days. In one or two cases the Btreets are so well described, that the reader can imagine himself there looking down from the Church of the Duomo upon the procession of soldiers with their prancing steeds, and citizens with their banners and decorated ca.rs.

Nello the barber's shop ia described as the rendeiavpua of the young politician^ and literati of the time.

Among the frequenters of Nello's shop, there are introduced many characters of historical interest, conspicuous .among them being Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote the history of Florence, and a celebrated work called "The Prince," written to curry favour with the Medici family, who were at that time possessed of great political power. The oleverbut diplomatic bent of Machiavelli's

mind is well pourtrayed in the conversations in which he takes part. The character of Nello the barber is a medley of the pedantic, clever, and humorous. His flights of fancy and descriptions of incidents of city life make a bright link in the chain of a story that tends much more to the pathetic and tragic than to the sparkling and humorous.

Tessa, the pretty but child-like contadina, whose fate is linked to that of Tito Melema by a fictitious marriage ceremony, excites the interest of the reader from the innocent and unsuspecting manner in which she puts her trust in Tito, clinging to him with the faith of a religious devotee. The character of Bardi de Bardo, the blind scholar, is skilfully drawn. He is devoting his declining years to the recovery and translation of ancient manuscripts, his thoughts being more deeply concerned as to the value of some curious ring or to the meaning of an inscription than to the progress of the pestilence or the overthrow of the Medici family. '

Baldessare, the father by adoption and teacher of Melema, occupies an important position in the plot of the story. The passion of revenge has taken possession of hia whole being, — has become the one fixed idea of bis nature. We whose blood circulates through our veins with a cool and steady flow can hardly understand the absorbing nature of that evil spirit of revenge that masters the fiercer natures of more excitable races. Baldassare has only the one object before him— namely, to annihilate his traitorous son, and then die. The charm of life has fled ; he has been denied and forsaken by the youth whom he nourished and raised from oblivion ; there is only left to him now the very dregs of the cup. The sadness and power of this portion of the picture is most graphically described in the scene where Baldessare haunts the supper-table at Racollais' banquet, confronting Melema before the assembled guests, charging him with his cruelty and deception. The loss of the old scholar's memory when he is put to the test of translating from the original k Greek, at the very moment when victory over his traitorous son seemed certain, is pathetic in the extreme.

The characters who command our chief interest are those of Tito Melema, Romola, and Savonarola. Their life- history is a tragic poem, full of promise and disappointment, ot good intentions unfulfilled, of success and failures, of joys and miseries, passions, sorrow, and death.

In the character of Tito Melema we start with a youth of promise — a young and handsome Greek, naturally gifted and accomplished, with a sunny nature that Bhrank from pain, a lover of ease, success, and popularity. The author traces, with the power of a master, the effects of the one false step of shrinking from his duty to his father in not immediately going in search of him when he had reason to suspect that his fate was that of a slave. No more eloquent sermon has ever been preached en the necessity of performing our duty under whatsoever circumstances we are placed. Tito chose to accept falsehood as hia guide, and ho wovq himself a web from which he could find no escape but through the portals of death. Love of pleasure, success, and popularity, neglect of duty, and a gradual love of the game of deception for its own sake, led this talented youth into the valley of lost hopes. The author, besides giving the resultß of Tito's conduct, leads the reader into the inner workings of his mind. The first sin of omission is not committed without a struggle, but his pleasure-loving nature smothered the promptings of the small still voice of conscience. Within his reach lie bright prospects of worldly success, a happy marriage, and luxurious ease ; beyond where lies the path of duty there ia nought but trials, sufferings, and possible failure. The tempter conquered, and the web of disaster commenced to be woven. The character of Tito Melema is a blending of lago and Machiavelli. The subtlety and duplicity of his developed character were worthy of Iago ; and his cool, polished, diplomatic manner would have reflected credit on the author of " The Prince."

The character of Melema is the masterpiece of the book, but the senses rejoice more in the picture of Romola ; at first vague and ideal, the character grows upon us. Young and handsome, with large hazel eyes and golden hair, with a manner noble and modest, the reader's interest is soon excited in the heroine. Tenderly nurtured and kept unspotted from the world, she grows up in her fathers hpuqe with very little knowledge of evil. Trained in the strictest nptions of virtue, hpr ideals are pure and high. Her love fo,r Tito wag spontaneous and ahsorbing. The shock of the discovery or his true nature, of his deceit and treachery, was paralysing in its effects. Her devotion to her blind father is one of the grandest traits in her character.

Without the character of Savonarola the book would lose a great deal of its interest. A man of great emotional power, a fervent and eloquent preacher, living a pure and holy life, he commanded and exercised an influence for good, fearing no man, but boldly attacking all the vices of the people and the corruption of the Church. Hated by Pope Alexan .'er the Sixth and by the Medici family, his ruin was plqtted and, accomplished, but not before' ha ha.d sqwn the seed that was to rise to full fruition in the person of Martin Luther.

George Eliot's love scenes are the finest in •the language of prose. In " Middlemarch " the scenes between Ladißlaw and Dorothea are full of the deepest meaning, with little expression of language, only signs and •movements more sacred than those of any secret craft. The scenes between Romola and Tito are rich in their colouring and romance. ' For a description of strong natural pathos we have the scene where Savonarola induces Romola to return to Florence and her duty. Savonarola, in answer to a doubt expressed by Rotnola_ as to her duty, replies: "Ask your conscience, my daughter. You are a wife; you seek to bi.-eak your ties in selfwill and anger, not because the higher life calls upon you to renounce them. The higher life begins for us, my daughter, when we renounce our own will to bow before a Divine law. That seems hard to you. It is the portal of wisdoml and freedom, and blessedness. You think nothing of the sorrow and the wrong thatare within the walls of .the city where you dwell • you would have your place empty when it . ought to be filled with your pity and labour. If there is wickedness in the streets, your steps should shine with the light of purity • if there is a cry of anguish, you, my daughter, because you know the mea-aing of the qry should be there to still it. My beloved daughter, sorrow has come to teaoh you a new lesson." The power of the true Christian spirit over that of the pure pagan was never better illustrated. George Eliot ia strong in the humorous, Witness the characters ' of Bratti, the buyer and Beller of everything from a needle to an anchor ; that of the gonial and witty Nello the barber, and the garrulous Mamma Brigida. The scene where the latter sacrifices her ornaments, rouge, and false hair is ludicrous in, the extreme. * \ '*'• "■■■■■ The plot of this story is not of \ Wfy int'rioate bafaro j in fact, George Eliot's plots are

minor matters— they are merely the shell of the work. The author's inventive power is not developed in proportion to her other faculties. The sad termination of some of her • leading characters' careers but confirms the opinion of the melancholy view which the writer takes of life. The nature of her later studies impressed her with the power of natural laws, and the futility of trying to penetrate behind the veil of the future. The attitude of the author's mind towards the prospect of a promised land is interpreted by the vagueness of Addison's glimpses into futurity in the "Vision of Mirzah." Enough has been written to prove the excellence of the work that 1 George Eliot has produced — a work that will doubtless remain to future generations as a lasting monument of her genius, and a3 an illustration 6f what the modern novel could be made when inspired by the brain of a master.