; • - » ■■-.._;,.  :  > r " '"'• ,;^^^V (B^kuffi)^ £■-• , " I ; l It may be that there' is some neces. sity for •isuch ;: as ! :l John Ward, i Preacher ' and --'-Robert Elsmere,' arid >■] .'.that>ithj%;giec;ess_ityj arises £QU;t/ : , of! cour i craving fbr r excitement.. ,,P T ur, religion i is r riot 'sufficient!]' strong, wtieh'tlealt out in Sunday dpses-froin the pulpit, hence; / ;$e h'ave>iCs'e,rxed/up All ' h'd&aiid hot ' , in the religibiis. or non-religious nofel.^' 1 Wginriffig 1 K wi't!H ! ' I sucli 3 ' :>. 7 insiJid v ' :i a l nd ■ ; maudlin.; prod uctions.i as ' Queechy'. i a"i !d , its kind we arrive at l Kpnovan,'- '.^e' : :> ! Two',' : fan'd :i those' "m'eiitioried"' u alsb l ye.. r Nearly , ;all ie bppks, 7 off ? thissLkindiJare written, by women ; ( the latent— 'Joh'n^ Wafd ; '— by one 'who r h*as :> not 'reach'eclj womanhood— has never lef t i.the; coun try village where she was brought up-j-" r f yet sheshow's'fair insight into 'character and draws two or three,,* y.ery ccleverr r portraits. As might be expected in* • 'these two ; book's; 7 ihehefdihes/or rathe.r chief female character^,,;; in; each are almost faultless — each is painted as k: perfect woman' realising Wordsworth's , ; picture-^-, . ? ,,,. /'^ ;..-,:•. :. : y-^ {••■;; ! " A perfect woman nc/bly planned." ■ But in 'Robert Elsmere ' especially, we have two .strange Jtypes ..of- men. Elsinere himself so happy in his wedded life, his parish work and all his sur roundings, but with; the one skeleton ever haunting him, an nnsympathetic squire' and an agent hostile' tb all plans for improving the dw.ellingsjof the poor laborers. The , taste for. .literature; however, draws' 'ihe squire and the par son together.' The. squire more by sug gestion than by direct aggression under: mines the parson's 1 faith' in revealed religion, causing, great - pain tp h imself and his noble wife Catharine, almost ; separating ' the husband ■ 'and wife in heart. After mu,ch;.inward struggle and debate, Elsmere gives, up his cure and eventually settles down to philan-' thropic work iii London. 