MR. HARDY'S "DYNASTS."
The Dynasts : a Drama of the Napoleonic Wars. By Thomas Hardy. In Three Parts. Part the Second. (Macmillan and Co. 4s. 6d. net.)—The second part of Mr. Hardy 'a drama shows much the same merits and weaknesses as we noted two years ago in our review of Part I. It opens with Jena and ends on the eve of the Moscow Campaign. In a multitude of scenes and with a host of characters all the main events of those years are displayed, while spirits, ironic, sinister, and piteous, play the part of a Greek chorus, make appropriate comments, and fill up the gaps in the narrative. The blank verse tends to bo spasmodic and unrhythmical, and the lyrics suffer from a deplorable lack of music. The diction is strained, and when metaphysics begin we flounder among quasi-technical platitudes. But in spite of a hundred faults, there is a curious sublimity about the very immensity of the scheme. Mr. Hardy has succeeded in showing us Europe like a map on a child's slate, and the great protagonists as puppets in the grip of destiny. The time is not yet to attempt a review of the whole work, but we can at least acknowledge the magnitude of the conception. In special scenes, too, he attains to a high degree of dramatic power. The picture of the deserters from Moore's army in the ruined cellar is a wonderful piece of realism, and these English soldiers talk the vigorous peasant language of which Mr. Hardy has long been the chief living master. Fine, too, is the scene of Moore's burial, and the picture of George III. in his madness lamenting his daughter's death. The lyrics are gener- ally harsh and overcharged, but we must make two exceptions. The chorus of the Pities after Eylau contains many stately lines, and the lament of the dying troopers at Walcheren is in every respect a noble poem.
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