Page:The Spoils of Poynton (London, William Heinemann, 1897).djvu/316



The Times.—'All the stories are told by a man whose heart and soul are in his profession of literature.'

The Morning Post.—'The discriminating will not fail to recognise in the tales composing this volume workmanship of a very high order and a wealth of imaginative fancy that is, in a measure, a revelation.'

The Athenæum.—'The appearance of Terminations will in no way shake the general belief in Mr. Henry James's accomplished touch and command of material. On the contrary, it confirms conclusions long since foregone, and will increase the respect of his readers. . . . With such passages of trenchant wit and sparkling observation, surely in his best manner, Mr. James ought to be as satisfied as his readers cannot fail to be.'

The Daily News.—'Mr. James is a critic of life rather than a maker of stories; his appeal is more to the intellect than to the imagination. Terminations is a collection of four stories written with that choiceness and conciseness of phrase that distinguishes the work of the literary artist. . . . The Altar of the Dead is more mystic and imaginative. Mr. James finds phrases that express incomparably well the more spiritual longings of our nature, and this story is full of tender suggestiveness.'

The Pall Mall Gazette.—'What strikes one, in fact, in every corner of Mr. James's work is his inordinate cleverness. These four tales are so clever, that one can only raise one's hands in admiration. The insight, the sympathy with character, the extraordinary observation, and the neat and dexterous phrasing—these qualities are everywhere visible.'

The Scotsman.—'All the stories are peculiar and full of a rare interest.'

The Manchester Guardian.—'. . . But with The Altar of the Dead it is far otherwise. To attempt to criticise a creation so exquisite, so instinct with the finest and purest human feeling, so penetrated with the fastidious distinction of a sensitive spirit, would indeed be superfluous, if not impertinent. On its own lines, we know of no more beautiful, truer prose poem in the English language, and to have written it is to have formulated a claim to recollection which we do not think will be lightly set aside.'


 * WILLIAM HEINEMANN,, W.C.