“Without any sacrifice of dramatic propriety he has so arranged that you see not only people but their surroundings. As a result, the play is full of the stir and colour of mediaeval Italy. Indeed, though he has handled the central theme in a masterly manner, what will delight most readers is the extraordinary sense of atmosphere created by the minor characters.”
| + + − | Acad. 71: 469. N. 10, ’06. 390w. |
“In ‘Savonarola,’ Mr. Howard’s more recent drama, the lack of sharp definition in the plot and dialogue is much more apparent than in ‘Kiartan,’ since all the rival factions and orders, civil and religious, of that turbulent period are represented in the play and by their machinations so involve the plot that it is difficult to keep the various characters and their allegiance distinct.” Jessie B. Rittenhouse.
| + − | Putnam’s. 2: 350. Je. ’07. 360w. |
v. 3. Constantine the great: a tragedy.
7–18134.
The establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman empire furnishes the key-note of the third part of the trilogy. “In this play Mr. Howard gets his background, his atmosphere, mainly by a single figure; that of the little degenerate Fabius. By an almost savage piece of irony, Fabius is made the victim of the plot to murder Constantine. The state of paganism at the period of the play is admirably indicated by the priests of Demeter with their pitiful machinery for working an apparition of the goddess Proserpine. Bombo is one of the best clowns out of Shakespeare.” (Acad.)
“Mr. Howard reaches his highest level of workmanship in ‘Constantine the great.’ The chief characters stand out with something of the objective reality of sculpture but with all the life and movement of human beings. The dialog is reduced to its bare essentials, and because no word is allowed for its own sake, every word is not only significant but decorative, so that the texture of the verse is as if woven of some precious metal.”
| + + − | Acad. 71: 469. N. 10, ’06. 390w. |