"The author remains as simple and dignified in style as in his treatment of the tragedy of 'Joan of Arc.' There is no painful straining after effect. Act V. is really powerful."—Evening Standard.
"Mr. Presland gives promise of becoming one of the most successful living writers of poetic drama. His 'Joan of Arc' we have reason to remember, his 'Queen Mary' is no less striking. There is no Swinburnian welter of poetry here, but a very dramatically presented study of a very baffling woman. It would be difficult for anyone to cavil at the poet's presentation of the time.... Nothing could be finer, from a dramatic point of view, than her acting after the murder of Rizzio.... The last act is a splendid bit of work; the savagery of the street song and the last speech of Mary before signing her abdication are equally dramatic and equally poetic on very diverse lines. The play is altogether noteworthy."—Glasgow Herald.
"... It would, in our estimation, be a decided acquisition to any actor-manager who could arrange with the author to allow him to produce it.... Space does not permit us to deal with it here as we would like to do, or as it deserves, but we with pleasure commend it to our readers in the most emphatic way...."—Road.
"... 'Mary Queen of Scots,' a work in which he equals and even exceeds his marked success in dramatizing a theme from the history of the heroic Maid of Orleans.... Its progress is well planned, and it proceeds with spirit, several of the scenes being splendidly dramatic. As literature the play is sustained at a high level in strong nervous verse.... The characters are firmly drawn and lifelike...."—Liverpool Daily Post.
LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Fcap. 4to, cloth, 5s. net
JOAN OF ARC
EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS
"An excellent drama.... The verse is always flexible, and at the right moment rises into the atmosphere of poetry in which Shakespeare moves with such freedom.... Joan is the soul and centre of the play, and the author has done nobly by her. We catch, as we read, some of the infection that fell upon men's souls from her presence ... which simply means that Mr. Presland has realised his historical characters so well as to make them seem living.... What we have written is sufficient to show with what dramatic truth and poetic sympathy the dramatist has approached his great subject, and with what success he has handled it."—Glasgow Herald.