“One must always remember, in reading him, that he writes with the strongest possible bias, and that, however useful and even indispensable to the student of literature his history is, it is rather a work of reference than as a storehouse of reliable literary judgments. The style of the volume is deplorable. His offences against taste are of various kinds; perhaps the most exasperating is his reference to great men by their Christian names.”
| + + — | Nation. 80: 155. F. 23, ‘05. 2570w. |
“With all its wealth of material and faithful investigation of original sources, it is the work of a cloudy and often incoherent mind. ‘Exhaustive’ is the word which comes to the reviewer’s mind as he surveys the range of this history. No work in this field covers the ground so completely or with such wealth of knowledge.”
| + + — | Outlook. 79: 397. F. 11, ‘05. 860w. |
Saintsbury, George. [Minor Caroline poets.] 2v. v. I. [*]$3.40. Oxford.
“This volume contains Chamberlayne’s ‘Pharonnida,’ a ‘heroick poem’ of heroic length; Benlowes’ ‘Theophila,’ a ‘divine poem’ in many cantos; the poems of Mrs. Katherine Philips, ‘the matchless Orinda;’ and the poems of Patrick Hannay, a very obscure person of whom nothing is known, and of whose book only six copies remain. Indeed all the writers collected in this book are more or less obscure now, and you must be interested in the history of English poetry before you can be expected to read them.”—Lond. Times.
“It is well and judiciously edited as a whole, the notes being sparing and adequate, while the prefaces—both the general preface and those to single authors—if one can stomach the editor’s most unappetizing and contorted style, are excellent in substance, alike critical and informative.”
| + + — | Ath. 1905. 2: 168. Ag. 5. 1900w. | |
| + + | Lond. Times. 4: 229. Jl. 21, ‘05. 2320w. | |
| + + + | Nation. 81: 107. Ag. 3, ‘05. 400w. |
“We can and do applaud the zeal for true literary criticism and for scientific literary history, which prompted Professor Saintsbury to reprint and edit the minor Caroline poets, but we cannot and do not pretend to endorse all his conclusions as to the merits of the four included in the volume before us.”
| + — | Sat. R. 100: 375. S. 16, ‘05. 960w. |