It
is a romance of modern Arcadia--a tale of the love of a farm-labourer for
a girl who, though slightly above him in social station and education, is
yet herself also a servant on a farm. True Arcadians they are, both of
them, and their ignorance and isolation serve only to intensify the
tragedy that gives the story its title. It is the fashion nowadays to
label literature, so, no doubt, Mrs. Woods's novel will be spoken of as
'realistic.' Its realism, however, is the realism of the artist, not of
the reporter; its tact of treatment, subtlety of perception, and fine
distinction of style, make it rather a poem than a proces-verbal; and
though it lays bare to us the mere misery of life, it suggests something
of life's mystery also. Very delicate, too, is the handling of external
Nature. There are no formal guide-book descriptions of scenery, nor
anything of what Byron petulantly called 'twaddling about trees,' but we
seem to breathe the atmosphere of the country, to catch the exquisite
scent of the beanfields, so familiar to all who have ever wandered
through the Oxfordshire lanes in June; to hear the birds singing in the
thicket, and the sheep-bells tinkling from the hill. Characterisation,
that enemy of literary form, is such an essential part of the method of
the modern writer of fiction, that Nature has almost become to the
novelist what light and shade are to the painter--the one permanent
element of style; and if the power of A Village Tragedy be due to its
portrayal of human life, no small portion of its charm comes from its
Theocritean setting.

* * * * *

It is, however, not merely in fiction and in poetry that the women of
this century are making their mark. Their appearance amongst the
prominent speakers at the Church Congress, some weeks ago, was in itself
a very remarkable proof of the growing influence of women's opinions on
all matters connected with the elevation of our national life, and the
amelioration of our social conditions. When the Bishops left the
platform to their wives, it may be said that a new era began, and the
change will, no doubt, be productive of much good. The Apostolic dictum,
that women should not be suffered to teach, is no longer applicable to a
society such as ours, with its solidarity of interests, its recognition
of natural rights, and its universal education, however suitable it may
have been to the Greek cities under Roman rule. Nothing in the United
States struck me more than the fact that the remarkable intellectual
progress of that country is very largely due to the efforts of American
women, who edit many of the most powerful magazines and newspapers, take
part in the discussion of every question of public interest, and exercise
an important influence upon the growth and tendencies of literature and
art. Indeed, the women of America are the one class in the community
that enjoys that leisure which is so necessary for culture.