Gilbert, Rosa Mulholland (Lady John Thomas Gilbert). Life of Sir John T. Gilbert. $5. Longmans.
Lord Gilbert’s unusually fortunate career is felicitously sketched by his wife. “Copious correspondence, embracing letters from scholars, historians, archæologists, Irish Franciscans in Rome and in Portugal, noblemen, and public officials enliven the narrative, and, incidentally, bear witness to the conscientious, painstaking method of the historian.... The curtain that screens the sanctities of domestic life is drawn aside just enough to give us a glimpse of the fine, noble, sunny gentleman, an earnest Catholic, of high culture and simple tastes, ambitious only of a competence sufficient to guarantee him the opportunity to prosecute his work of study and composition, which he loved, not for the fame that it brought him, but for itself.” (Cath. World.)
“Well-written and delicate panegyric of a notable man.”
+ Ath. 1905, 2: 859. D. 23. 1160w.
“Lady Gilbert has discharged her task with excellent taste.”
+ Cath. World. 83: 402. Je. ’06. 660w.
“His widow, besides giving some account of her husband’s career, prints copious selections from his correspondence, with the object of illustrating the character of his work, and the interest of his ‘unusual and many-sided personality.’ We do not think Lady Gilbert has been very successful in achieving this object.”
– + Eng. Hist. R. 21: 623. Jl. ’06. 260w. + – N. Y. Times. 11: 532. S. 1, ’06. 590w.
“We have never taken up a ‘life’ so distended by trivial and ephemeral letters.”