“This is a book the last page of which leaves us in an Oliver Twist-like state of asking for more.” (N. Y. Times.) “Wemyss Reid was notable as a literary man, a biographer, and a writer of fiction. But his Memoirs are chiefly important as those of the editor of the Leeds ‘Mercury,’ a powerful paper of the moderate Liberal school in a stirring time. He flourished in what was perhaps the palmiest epoch of British journalism, when the editor of a great journal himself directed its policy and was a statesman of the pen, not a mere organist or the manager of a Yellow concern.” (Nation.)
“Not even the promise of ‘revelations,’ not even the prospect of the day, when Liberal policy will throw reticence to the winds, can atone for the banality of the present sad and sorry instalment.”
– – Acad. 69: 1145. N. 4, ’05. 1050w + Ath. 1905, 2: 610. N 4. 470w.
“The interesting matter in the volume could be presented in less than a score of pages.”
+ – Critic. 48: 570. Je. ’06. 230w.
“There are too many records of personal adventure, tours, and so on, which were hardly worth preserving in print. But on the whole the book is interesting.”
+ – Lond. Times. 4: 361. O. 27, ’05. 840w. + Nation. 82: 56. Ja. 18, ’06. 870w.
“The author’s acquaintance with most of the leading English statesmen and literary men of the past two generations makes his memoirs not only a valuable addition to the modern English history, but fills them to the brim with delightful bits and anecdotes.” Elizabeth Banks.
+ + N. Y. Times. 10: 847. D. 2, ’05. 1780w.