| — + | Atlan. 96: 690. N. ‘05. 390w. |
“He has diligently collected an abundance of material of an encyclopedic kind. His treatment of many topics is disproportionate and cloudy. Some of the blunders are inexcusable.”
| — — + | Ind. 58: 381. F. 16, ‘05. 570w. | |
| N. Y. Times. 10: 56. Ja. 28, ‘05. 440w. (Outlines scope and contents). |
“Without many noticeable omissions or slurring of important events. The story he tells, dry as it might be under certain circumstances, is fascinating as told by Dr. Williams. The volume might almost be a history of modern British science alone; to Dr. Williams apparently, American contributions to the subject are merely incidental. Proof-reading is careless. Inconsistent in the spelling. An index of little value makes part of the last volume; the work is worthy of a good one.”
| + + — | N. Y. Times. 10: 99. F. 18, ‘05. 1190w. |
“Error is by no means absent, and some of the defects which the work betrays are surprising, but, viewing it in the large, it must be agreed that its excellencies far outweigh its faults and that it is of genuine value to both student and general reader. The style is picturesque, fluent, and clear. Altogether, the fifth volume, in striking contrast to its predecessors, must be accounted ill advised and weak.”
| + + — | Outlook. 79: 956. Ap. 15, ‘05. 1030w. |
[*] Williams, Hugh Noel. Queens of the French stage. [*]$2.50. Scribner.
“A set of biographical essays entitled ‘Queens of the French stage,’ which cover the period from Louis XIV to the Revolution, beginning with Armande Béjart (Molière’s wife) and ending with the celebrated, and notorious Clairon.” (Nation.) “Mr. Williams gives both the ‘backstairs’ and the theatrical biography of his subjects.... The picture is not a pleasant one, for the book resolves itself into the story of liaisons, jealousies, infidelities, intrigues, and scandals in high life and low.... The book, a substantial volume of some three hundred and fifty quarto pages, is pleasantly illustrated with eight or ten full-page half-tone reproductions after contemporary drawings or paintings.” (Dial.)
[*] “Culled from many sources, these gossiping lives of six actresses make very entertaining reading.”