"The last line but one is powerful enough, and the best in the extract. There is plenty of poetry in railways and steam engines; and now that other mines of inspiration are growing somewhat exhausted, we cannot see why a new shaft should not be run in this direction. Many of our readers may find, besides these extracts, much that is clever and amusing in 'Puck on Pegasus.'"
"To be funny without being vulgar, to tell a story with gestures and yet not become a buffoon, to parody a poet and yet retain the flavour of his real poetry, to turn all the finest feelings of the heart into fun, and yet not to be coarse or unfeeling, is not granted by Apollo to every writer of humorous poems."... "Mr. Pennell is an excellent parodyist, an ingenious punster, a reviver and modifier of existing systems of fun, a vigorous worker of veins of humour not yet carried for enough."... "Of all the poems, we like best the Night Mail North, which has a singular weird power about it that takes a hold on the imagination.... Lord Jolly Green's Courtship is a well-written parody on a well-known poem of Mrs. Browning. Next best is, perhaps, the Sayers and Heenan Fight, a very vigorous imitation of Lord Macaulay's Coman Ballads. There is a great rush and gallop about the Derby Day; the lines at the end are- not unworthy of Hood's playful thoughtfulness."
EXAMINER.
"There is, without doubt, a good deal of humorous verse in this gaily got up and cleverly illustrated volume.... But there are better things than slang versides in Mr. Pennell's book, and more striking lines than those which are printed in black letters. The Derby Day offers a favourable example of a popular subject well treated, in which the scene is vividly and often poetically depicted. The Fight for the Championship, written in imitation of Lord Macaulay's Horatius, is also very well done.... The measure of the author's power may, however, be taken from the poem emtitled The Night Mail North, one of the best things the book contains..... Let Mr. Pennell trust to the original strength that is in him, and he may bestride his 'Pegasus' without fear."
FRASER'S MAGAZINE.
"When a gentleman means to be absurd, and at the same time can support his pretensions to amuse his readers with cleverness, we know how to accost him. 'Puck on Pegasus' is full of those eccentricities which make one laugh in spite of oneself, or in unison with oneself, according as one takes it up in a grave or a gay humour. It reminds one of the Bon Gaultier Ballads of some years ago.... The illustrations are capital, as they were likely to be considering whose they are."
ILLUSTRATED NEWS OF THE WORLD.
"Mr. Pennell's 'Puck' is gay, rattling, and really clever, something in the Bon Gaultier style... full of fun... very smart."
BELL'S LIFE.
"An admirable drawing-room table brochure, and is certain to have a run."