The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Volume Ii Part 31

'We have put before us a valuable collection of materials for the future history of the Victorian era of English literature.'--_Standard._

'John Francis was a faithful servant, and also an earnest worker for the good of his fellow-creatures. Sunday schools, charitable societies, and mechanics' inst.i.tutes found in him a patient and steady helper, and no one laboured more persistently and unselfishly to procure the abolition of the pernicious taxes on knowledge.'--_Daily Chronicle._

'Such a life interests us, and carries with it a fruitful moral.... The history of the _Athenaeum_ also well deserved to be told.'--_Daily News._

'A worthy monument of the development of literature during the last fifty years.... The volumes contain not a little specially interesting to Scotsmen.'--_Scotsman._

'Rich in literary and social interest, and afford a comprehensive survey of the intellectual progress of the nation.'--_Leeds Mercury._

'It is in characters so sterling and admirable as this that the real strength of a nation lies.... The public will find in the book reading which, if light and easy, is also full of interest and suggestion.... We suspect that writers for the daily and weekly papers will find out that it is convenient to keep these volumes of handy size, and each having its own index, extending the one to 20, the other to 30 pages, at their elbow for reference.'--_Liverpool Mercury._

'The book is, in fact, as it is described, a literary chronicle of the period with which it deals, and a chronicle put together with as much skill as taste and discrimination. The information given about notable people of the past is always interesting and often piquant, while it rarely fails to throw some new light on the individuality of the person to whom it refers.'--_Liverpool Daily Post._

'Our survey has been unavoidably confined almost exclusively to the first volume; indeed, anything like an adequate account of the book is impossible, for it may be described as a history in notes of the literature of the period with which it deals. We confess that we have been able to find very few pages altogether barren of interest, and by far the larger portion of the book will be found irresistibly attractive by all who care anything for the history of literature in our own time.'--_Manchester Examiner._

'It was a happy thought in this age of jubilees to a.s.sociate with a literary chronicle of the last fifty years a biographical sketch of the life of John Francis.... As we glance through the contents there is scarcely a page which does not induce us to stop and read about the men and events that are summoned again before us.'--_Western Daily Mercury._

'A mine of information on subjects connected with literature for the last fifty years.'--_Echo._

'The volumes are full of interest.... The indexes of these two volumes show at a glance that a feast of memorabilia, of gossip, of reminiscence, is in store for the reader.'--_Nonconformist._

'The thought of compiling these volumes was a happy one, and it has been ably carried out by Mr. John C. Francis, the son of the veteran publisher.'--_Literary World._

'The entire work affords a comprehensive view of the intellectual life of the period it covers, which will be found extremely helpful by students of English literature.'--_Christian World._

'No other fifty years of English literature contain so much to interest an English reader.'--_Freeman._

'To literary men the two volumes will have much interest; they contain the raw material of history, and many of the gems which make it sparkle.'--_Sword and Trowel._