Page:Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads (1892).djvu/236



“His highest achievement, as yet, in the realms of fiction. The work has two distinct merits, either of which would serve to make it great,—that of telling a perfect story in a perfect way, and of giving a graphic picture of Roman society in the last days of the Pope’s temporal power. The story is exquisitely told,”—Boston Traveller.

“One of the most engrossing novels we have ever read.”—Boston Times.

“Now this is brought out in this little story with the firmness of touch, a power and skill which belong to the first rank in art. We take the liberty of saying that this work belongs to the highest department of character painting in words,”—Churchman.

“‘Marzio’s Crucifix’ is another of those tales of modern Rome which show the author so much at his ease. A subtle compound of artistic feeling, avarice, malice, and criminal frenzy is this carver of silver chalices and crucifixes.”—The Times.

“Altogether an admirable piece of art worked in the spirit of a thorough artist. Every reader of cultivated tastes will find it a book prolific in entertainment of the most refined description, and to all such we commend it heartily.”—Boston Saturday Evening Gazette.

“‘Greifenstein’ is a remarkable novel, and while it illustrates once more the author’s unusual versatility, it also shows that he has not been tempted into careless writing by the vogue of his earlier books. There is nothing weak or small or frivolous in the story. The author deals with tremendous passions, working at the height of their energy. His characters are stern, rugged, determined men and women, governed by powerful prejudices and iron conventions, types of a military people, in whom the sense of duty has been cultivated until it dominates all other motives, and in whom the principle of ‘noblesse oblige’ is, so far as the aristocratic class is concerned, the fundamental rule of conduct. What such people may be capable of is startlingly shown.”—New York Tribune.