"Mr. Presland has put some excellent workmanship into this new dramatic picture of the Maid of Orleans.... The action never flags. The verse is fluid, natural, yet dignified, and adapts itself easily to the varying requirements of the situations.... A play which leaves in the reader's mind a picture that grows upon him. One forgets everything but Joan, and that not because of any lack of proportion in the composition, but because of the naturalness and force of her beautiful character."—Bibliophile.
"At once good drama and good poetry.... The well-known story is deftly treated. The verse is easy and vigorous—above all, it is dramatic."—Sheffield Daily Telegraph.
"Mr. Presland's play shows how impressive Joan of Arc may be made as the central figure in a 'history.' ... Written with faithful adherence to Shakespearean traditions of form, it follows out in an interesting sequence of scenes the several stages in the career of the Maid of Orleans.... The piece is all the more impressive because it does not bring in any invented theatrical love interest, or anything of that sort, to confuse the simple lines of the accepted story."—Scotsman.
"Written in language which will commend itself to all educated people, who will certainly not only be entertained, but instructed thereby. The author has done his work excellently in every way."—Road.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Fcap. 4to, cloth, 5s. net
MANIN
AND THE DEFENCE OF VENICE
EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS
"... The play is genuinely dramatic, and its impressiveness is heightened by the dignity of the blank verse. There is poetry on every page, but the effects are gained, not by flaunting rhetoric, but by simplicity of language, which is forcible through its truth.... We can only advise those who love English verse to read this play; they will see that poetry is still a living thing among us."—Oxford Magazine.