"The exquisite aërial feeling of 'Eros and Psyche,'—by far the best of the drawings,—in which the figures seem literally to float in ether. 'Laocoon' is grand and dignified, and all deserve to be noticed with attention."—Graphic, January 25th, 1879.
"These designs of themselves would be of the highest value, and when they are placed, as in this book, by way of illustration of a text which is full of power, their value is not easily estimated. The book ought to be one of the most cherished gifts that any lover of poetry or the pencil could desire."—Scotsman, January 23rd, 1879.
"The author has been most fortunate in his illustrator. The designs are gems of drawing and conception, and the mezzotint is admirably adapted to the style of drawing and subject. This is truly a charming addition to the literary table. It is seldom one sees figure illustrations of such graceful and powerful beauty, and so thoroughly in sympathy with the visionary subjects of the author."—Art Journal, April, 1879.
"'The Epic of Hades' has already won a place among the immortals. The lovely and terrible figures of the Greek mythology have never received a more exquisite consecration than at the hands of the author, who, with the true divination of the poet, has known how to interpret in the modern spirit the profound and pathetic fables of antiquity without vulgarizing by modern affectations their divine simplicity. This beautiful poem appears now in an édition de luxe—a setting not unworthy of such gems. The designs are noteworthy for their tenderness of sentiment and their languid grace."—Daily News, April 2nd, 1879.
GWEN:
A DRAMA IN MONOLOGUE.
"The charm of this beautiful little poem is its perfect simplicity of utterance; its chastened and exquisite grace. There is nothing very new in the incidents or in the characters of this most touching story, except in its unconventional ending, which takes the reader by surprise. The genius of the author has closed an idyll of love and death with a strain of sweet, sad music in that minor key which belongs to remembrance and regret."—Daily News, January 22nd, 1879.
"We have read this new work with the interest arising from the expectations which the author had quickened in us, and with the hope of finding those expectations confirmed. We are not disappointed, for we have here the same selectness of language, the same high, pure tone, the same delicate power of touching the deeper chords of thought and feeling, which have previously won our attention and sympathy."—Literary World, January 17th, 1879.