there is an unconscious double meaning in the american name given to the novel published in 1914, the greatest of these, for it can be taken not only in the pauline significance, but as the greatest of these books we are considering. it is the most ambitious and on the whole the most effective of its author's productions, containing also the essence of his religion—charity contrasted with opinions. we have an illustration of his favourite method of portraying the shade and shine of human character by placing in opposition two leading representatives of two large classes of nominal christians—a clergyman of the church of england and a minister of the dissenters. mr. marshall never wrote a better first chapter. the reader is instantly aware that he has in his hands a masterpiece. every leading character is introduced in the opening chapter either in person or in allusive conversation, and we know that mr. marshall has what most novelists seek in vain—a real plot. this book, which eventually rises to the highest spiritual altitude at[46]tained thus far by its author, begins on a note of sordid sex-tragedy, as unusual in the stories of mr. marshall as a picture like the price household is in the work of jane austen; here it serves to bring forward the forthright and self-satisfied anglican, who little dreams of his approaching humiliation; he is brought into conflict with a kind of zeal-of-the-land busy, whose aggressive self-righteousness is to be softened by the very man who he hoped would harden it. here too, as in exton manor, we come as near as we ever come in mr. marshall's books to meeting a villain—in each case it is a woman with a serpent's tongue.
the time-element in the greatest of these is managed with consummate skill. so far as the novel has a hero, it is the rev. dr. merrow. he does not appear in roding until the one-hundred-and-sixty-third page, but there is so much talk, for and against him, that the reader awaits his arrival at the railway station with fully as much eagerness as any of the village gossips. and then, owing to the doctor's fatigue from the journey, the reader is as baffled as the parishioners. it is quite impossible to discover what manner of man he is. the author refuses to help us, preferring to let[47] his leading character reveal himself without any manipulation behind the scenes. this revelation is gradual, made up of many little details of speech and behaviour, as it would be in real life.
but although the personality of the man is not clear until more than half of the book has passed, the ninth chapter, which shows him in action in london as a public institution, is one of the most powerful pieces of prose mr. marshall has ever composed. he writes as if inspired by the theme. not only is it a magnificent description of a great occasion, its dramatic power is immensely heightened because we see it through the eyes of a young ritualist, to whom it is as strange—and at first as repellent—as some vulgar heathen observance. but gradually distaste changes to interest, and interest to enthusiasm. such passages as the following are entirely unlike the ordinary current of mr. marshall's style, but it is a proof that he can reach the heights when the occasion calls.
there came more of these sentences. the spark had caught; the furnace was beginning to glow. george gazed at the preacher with his own face alight. his surroundings were forgotten.... if this was the[48] kind of preaching that had brought dr. merrow his great reputation, then he understood its appeal, and was himself moved by it. it came from something beyond creeds, far beyond differences in methods of worship. it had been heard in all ages of the church, amidst the splendours of medi?val superstition, as in the crude barrenness of modern revivalism. the spirit moved on the face of the waters; the stagnancy of mere words was broken; there was life and healing in them.
the words came faster. the voice grew stronger, and took on a different tone, as if on an organ a touch of reed had been added to diapason. the slightly bent figure became straighter, the worn face younger. the preacher began to use his hands—thin, flexible, nervous hands, which seemed to clutch at deep truths, and fling them out for the world to take hold of. soon the burning words came in a torrent, as of a rushing mass of water of irresistible force, yet bound within its directing channel. every now and then they sank to a deep calm, but were still infused with the same concentrative power. such words had stirred men's minds and souls in long past ages. spoken on bare hillsides underneath the symbol of faith, they had converted kingdoms. flung forth over throngs of rough fighting men, they had turned bloodshed and rapine into righteous crusades. their power was older than that of christianity itself. in the dim ages of religious history it had singled out aaron for the priesthood, and put him above moses, the warrior leader. later, it had burst the bonds of the priesthood itself, and winged the utterances of great prophets.
every page that we turn in this extraordinary book lessens the distance not only in time[49] but in sympathy between the rector and the pastor. the orthodox evangelical chapel orator is drawn with just the insight one would superficially not expect from a man of mr. marshall's birth, breeding, and environment. he is certainly the author's finest achievement, even finer than squire clinton, for he is more difficult to draw. the rev. dr. merrow must be added to chaucer's poore persoun and to goldsmith's village preacher as one more permanent clerical figure in imaginative literature.
lesser personages in this story are given with the same care in detail, until we feel their presence as personal friends. the curate, the rev. george barton, so completely misunderstood by mrs. merrow, is an almost flawless portrait. his healthy, athletic outdoor nature and the development of his inner life are both presented with subtle, delicate strokes of the pen possible only to an artist of distinction.
it is interesting to contemplate side by side in the reader's mind the wife of the rector and the wife of the pastor. both are good women—their only similarity. lady ruth, a born aristocrat, with a "temperamental inability to comport herself as the busy wife of a busy[50] clergyman" is one of the most gracious and lovely figures created by our novelist, which means that her charm is irresistible. the less admirable, but more energetic wife of dr. merrow is so perfect a representative of the busy city pastor's helpmate that we can only wonder how it is possible to put on paper any creation so real. there is not a false touch in this picture. william allingham wrote in his diary after reading one of browning's poems, "bravo, browning!" upon finishing the greatest of these, which i confidently call a great novel, i could hardly refrain from a shout of applause.
