“One of the first successes of the literary season has been made by ‘Miss Mitford’s Friendships.’ It is a thoroughly literary book, in which literary subjects are dealt with by writers who were called upon by their profession to handle them. It possesses a singular interest from the effective manner in which it transports the reader into the past”—Standard.
“No one has left a happier memory behind her than Miss Mitford. Her books are fresh with all the freshness of country life. The letters addressed to her are extremely miscellaneous; there are some characteristic ones from Cobbett, some really clever ones from Sir William Elford, and some full of pleasant gossip from Mrs. Trollope.”—Athenæum.
“Twelve years have passed since ‘The Life of Mary Russell Mitford’ was published, and it might fairly be thought that the public was quite ready and willing to hear more of one of the most popular women and vivacious writers of the generation preceding our own. The two collections, therefore, fit and complete each other.”—Pall Mall Gazette.
“Some of the most delightful specimens of friendly and literary correspondence which exist in the English language. On the various interesting reminiscences of Miss Mitford’s contemporaries we cannot here enlarge, but they will repay the reader’s search.”—The Queen.
“Mr. L’Estrange gives his readers several letters written by Miss Mitford, and these will be found even more interesting than the others.”—Globe.
“This book is in many parts highly attractive. Not the least pleasant passages in the collection are casual notices of passing acquaintances and strangers.”—Saturday Review.
CONVERSATIONS with M. Thiers, M. Guizot, and other Distinguished Persons, during the Second Empire. By the Late Nassau W. Senior. Edited by his Daughter, M. C. M. Simpson. 2 vols. demy 8vo. 30s.
“Mr. Senior had a social position which gave him admission into the best literary and political circles of Paris. He was a cultivated and sensible man, who knew how to take full advantage of such an opening. These conversations he wrote down with a surprising accuracy, and then handed the manuscript to his friends, that they might correct or modify his report of what they had said. This book thus contains the opinions of eminent men given in the freedom of conversation, and afterwards carefully revised. Of their value there cannot be a question. The book is one of permanent historical interest. There is scarcely a page without some memorable statement by some memorable man. Politics and society and literature—the three great interests that make up life—are all discussed in turn, and there is no discussion which is unproductive of weighty thought or striking fact.”—Athenæum.
CONVERSATIONS with Distinguished Persons during the Second Empire, from 1860 to 1863. By the Late Nassau W. Senior. Edited by his Daughter, M. C. M. Simpson. 2 vols. 8vo. 30s.
“A large part of this delightful book is made up of studies by various critics, from divers points of view, of the character of Louis Napoleon, and of more or less vivid and accurate explanations of his tortuous policy. The work contains a few extremely interesting reports of conversations with M. Thiers. There are some valuable reminiscences of Lamartine, and among men of a somewhat later day, of Prince Napoleon, Drouyn de Lhuys, Montalembert, Victor Cousin, Rénan, and the Chevaliers.”—Athenæum.