Page:The spirit of place, and other essays, Meynell, 1899.djvu/123

adv THE COLOUR OF LIFE AND OTHEE ESSAYS ON THINGS SEEN AND HEARD Fifth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. Qd. net. CONTENTS THE COLOUR OF LIFE : A POINT OF BIOGRAPHY: CLOUD : WINDS OF THE WORLD: THE HONOURS OF MOR- TALITY: AT MONASTERY GATES : RUSHES AND REEDS : ELEONORA DUSE : DONKEY RACES : GRASS : A WOMAN IN GREY: SYMMETRY AND INCIDENT : THE ILLUSION OF HISTORIC TIME : EYES. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS You read them with a passion of delight in swift sweet- ness of rhythm and reason, their magic of gracious wis- dom, their radiant and enduring- ironies. We might define her book to be an excommunication of grossness, of spir- itual obesity and intellectual opacity. To see what this writer has seen, to hear what she has heard, is a lovely lesson in the art and nature of life. The Daily Chronicle. We find in her a distinct power of natural observation and a sound critical understanding in matters of art. The Times. Mrs. Meynell's work is marked by a rare originality, dis- tinctness, and delicacy. It is difficult to praise too warmly the liberal judgment and intelligence that find utterance the most artistic in these reticent pages. That the power of exact vision is not wanting, appears in the two brilliant papers on "Eleonora Duse" and "Donkey Races." It is safe to say that no better dramatic criticism has been writ- ten in our time ; and the other Essays are worthy of them the work of an observer of genius. Pall Mall Gazette. Her prose at its best is the purest and most beautiful of all prose. In her lightest Essay there is indicated some new principle or significance, for insight into which all under- standing readers must feel that they are permanently the better. Mrs. Meynell moves at an altitude and with a freedom for the like of which, at all events in any female writer, we must go back to Madame de Guyon or St. Frances de Chantal. The Saturday Review. Rare fastidiousness, delicate grace and charm, and almost unearthly loveliness of imagination- these are qualities that do not make for popularity, but they are the very salt of life in art, and in them lies the secret of greatness. Such Mrs. Meynell's work makes evident. Either in prose or verse she exalts and refines. Her every thought is a counsel of rare perfection. The Leeds Mercury.