Page:Doom of the Great City - Hay - 1880.djvu/62

 hour of parting’ from one very far above him, that he would ‘win her yet.’ The poem tells how the news of his death reaches the girl who loved him, at a ball, and describes her sorrow and horror of ‘the life that lies before her’:

The story is told with ease and with great pathos. There are several clever prose sketches, and one or two high-class farces, all of an amusing nature. Altogether, ‘Original Readings’ is a book of real merit, and deserves a good measure of success.”—Liverpool Daily Post.

“These readings deserve the praise given to them in a short recommendatory epistle by Mrs. Stirling, who has been, we are told, among the readers. They are not entirely verse, though the majority are. Some of these latter, perhaps most of them, are of the domestic affection kind, which is effective at readings. A very effective medley of prose and verse, entitled ‘St. Valentine,’ seems to have been written for Mrs. Stirling, and most people can guess how admirably that accomplished artist would counterfeit Miss Lucretia. A little scene called ‘Fast Friends,’ with two personages only, might be made very good in a drawing-room, and so might the comedietta of Lady Helps. Mr. Henry possesses considerable ability for this sort of work.”—Academy.

“Re Henry, whose name has been rendered familiar to us by our best elocutionists, from Mrs. Stirling to Miss Cowen, has published a little volume of ‘Original Readings in Prose and Verse,’ which displays no mean skill in that style of literary composition peculiarly adapted to public reading. Miss Henry’s prose is instinct with dramatic force; she provokes laughter and moves to tears, touching all the chords which vibrate in the human breast with the same grace and ease. In ‘The Cabman’s Story,” she plays upon the feelings in a very remarkable manner. This piece, which opens allegro and gradually melts into a most sympathetic tone, is, without exception, the finest composition in the book. Miss Henry’s little volume is one of the best collections of ‘readings’ which we have found in a pyramid of such publications.”—Jewish Chronicle.

“In the entertainment given by Miss Cowen last Tuesday evening in the Steinway Hall she certainly had no cause to regret the presentation of some vocal music as interludes in her programme, and though one of these consisted of the charming phrases her popular brother (Mr. F. H. Cowen) has wedded to the little poem ‘Never Again,’ the interest of the occasion centred in Miss Cowen’s delivery of the poetical works written by Re Henry. Though the charm of each poem was enhanced by expressive declamation, the ‘Convict’s Return’ of Re Henry gained most by Miss Cowen’s mode of delivery, and caused the audience to express full appreciation of the literary treat provided.”—London Echo