THE END.
MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S LIST OF NEW WORKS.
COURT AND SOCIETY FROM ELIZABETH TO ANNE,
Edited from the Papers at Kimbolton, by the Duke of Manchester.
Second Edition, Revised.
Opinions of the Press.
From The Athanæum.—"The Duke of Manchester has done a welcome service to the lover of gossip and secret history by publishing these family papers. Persons who like to see greatness without the plumes and mail in which history presents it, will accept these volumes with hearty thanks to their noble editor. In them will be found something new about many men and women in whom the reader can never cease to feel an interest—much about the divorce of Henry the Eighth and Catherine of Arragon—a great deal about the love affairs of Queen Elizabeth—something about Bacon and (indirectly) about Shakspeare—more about Lord Essex and Lady Rich—the very strange story of Walter Montagu, poet, profigate, courtier, pervert, secret agent, abbot—many details of the Civil War and Cromwell's Government, and of the Restoration—much that is new about the Revolution and the Settlement, the exiled Court of St Germains, the wars of William of Orange, the campaigns of Marlborough, the intrigues of Duchess Sarah, and the town life of fine ladies and gentlemen during the days of Anne. With all this is mingled a good deal of gossip about the loves of great poets, the frailties of great beauties, the rivalries of great wits, the quarrels of great peers."
From The Times.—"These volumes are sure to excite curiosity. A great deal of interesting matter is here collected, from sources which are not within everybody's reach."
From The Morning Post.—"The public are indebted to the noble author for contributing, from the archives of his ancestral seat, many important documents otherwise inaccessible to the historical inquirer, as well as for the lively, picturesque, and piquant sketches of Court and Society, which render his work powerfully attractive to the general reader. The work contains varied information relating to secret Court intrigues, numerous narratives of an exciting nature, and valuable materials for authentic history. Scarcely any personage whose name figured before the world during the long period embraced by the volumes is passed over in silence."
From The Morning Herald.—"In commending these volumes to our readers, we can assure them that they will find a great deal of very delightful and very instructive reading."
From The Daily News,—"The merits of the Duke of Manchester's work are numerous. The substance of the book is new; it ranges over by far the most interesting and important period of our history; it combines in its notice of men and things infinite variety; and the author has command of a good style, graceful, free, and graphic."
From The Star.—"The reading public are indebted to the Duke of Manchester for two very interesting and highly valuable volumes. The Duke has turned to good account the historical treasures of Kimbolton. We learn a good deal in these volumes about Queen Elizabeth and her love affairs, which many grave historical students may have ignored. A chapter full of interest is given to Penelope Devereux, the clever, charming, and disreputable sister of the Earl of Essex. The Montagu or Manchester family and their fortunes are traced out in the volumes, and there are anecdotes, disclosures, reminiscences, or letters, telling us something of James and Charles I., of Oliver Cromwell, of Buckingham, of 'Sacharissa,' of Prior, Peterborough, and Boling-broke, of Swift, Addison, and Harley, of Marlborough and Shovel, of Vanbrugh and Congreve, of Court lords and fine ladies, of Jacobites and Williamites, of statesmen and singers, of the Council Chamber and the Opera House. Indeed, it would not be easy to find a work of our day which contains so much to be read and so little to be passed over."
From The Observer.—"These valuable volumes will be eagerly read by all classes, who will obtain from them not only pleasant reading and amusement, but instruction given in an agreeable form. The Duke of Manchester has done good service to the literary world, and merits the highest praise for the admirable manner in which he has carried out his plan."
THE LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London.
Illustrated by his Journal and Correspondence. By Mrs. Oliphant.
Third and Cheaper Edition.
"We who read these memoirs must own to the nobility of Irving's character, the grandeur of his aims, and the extent of his powers. His friend Carlyle bears this testimony to his worth:—'I call him, on the whole, the best man I have ever, after trial enough, found in this world, or hope to find.' A character such as this is deserving of study, and his life ought to be written. Mrs. Oliphant has undertaken the work, and has produced a biography of considerable merit. The author fully understands her hero, and sets forth the incidents of his career with the skill of a practised hand. The book is a good book on a most interesting theme."—Times.
"Mrs. Oliphant's 'Life of Edward Irving' supplies a long-felt desideratum. It is copious, earnest, and eloquent. On every page there is the impress of a large and masterly comprehension, and of a bold, fluent, and poetic skill of portraiture. Irving as a man and as a pastor is not only fully sketched, but exhibited with many broad, powerful, and life-like touches, which leave a strong impression."—Edinburgh Review.
"We thank Mrs. Oliphant for her beautiful and pathetic narrative. Hers is a book which few of any creed can read without some profit, and still fewer will close without regret. It is saying much, in this case, to say that the biographer is worthy of the man. * * * The journal which Irving kept is one of the most remarkable records that was ever given to the public, and must be read by any who would form a just appreciation of his noble and simple character."—Blackwood's Magazine.
"A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. Irving's life ought to have a niche in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of instruction, interest, and consolation."—Saturday Review.
"A highly instructive and profoundly interesting life of Edward Irving."—Scotsman.
CHEAP EDITION of LES MISÉRABLES.
By VICTOR HUGO.
THE AUTHORIZED COPYRIGHT ENGLISH TRANSLATION,
Illustrated by Millais, forming a Volume of Hurst and Blackett's Standard Library of Cheap Editions of Popular Modern Works.
"We think it will be seen on the whole that this work has something more than the beauties of an exquisite style or the word-compelling power of a literary Zeus to recommend it to the tender care of a distant posterity; that in dealing with all the emotions, passions, doubts, fears, which go to make up our common humanity, M. Victor Hugo has stamped upon every page the hall mark of genius and the loving patience and conscientious labour of a true artist. But the merits of 'Les Miserables' do not merely consist in the conception of it as a whole, it abounds page after page with details of unequalled beauty."—Quarterly Review.
"'Les Miserables' is one of those rare works which have a strong personal interest in addition to their intrinsic importance. It is not merely the work of a truly great man, but it is his great and favourite work—the fruit of years of thought and labour. Victor Hugo is almost the only French imaginative writer of the present century who is entitled to be considered as a man of genius. He has wonderful poetical power, and he has the faculty which hardly any other French novelist possesses, of drawing beautiful as well as striking pictures. Another feature for which Victor Hugo's book deserves high praise is its perfect purity. Anyone who reads the Bible and Shakspeare may read 'Les Miserables.' The story is admirable, and is put together with unsurpassable art, care, life, and simplicity. Some of the characters are drawn with consummate skill."—Daily News.