In Kings' Byways Part 34

" ... 'The Castle Inn' ... is so fresh and entertaining that it takes one back to 'A Gentleman of France,' and other good things this author did several years ago. Mr. Weyman, in looking about for an appropriate setting for his romance, very wisely eschews scenes and people of to-day, and chooses, instead, England a hundred and thirty years ago, when George III. was on her throne, and living was a far more picturesque business than it is now. Beautiful maidens could be kidnapped then; daring lovers faced pistols and swords in behalf of their sweethearts, and altogether the pace was a lively one. Mr. Weyman knows how to use the attractive colorings to the best advantage possible."--CHICAGO EVENING POST.

" ... a piece of work which is infinitely better than anything else which he has accomplished. He has treated the eighteenth century, the time of the elder Pitt, with a grasp and a sympathy that presage a greater reputation for this novelist than he has enjoyed hitherto. The story itself is worth the telling, but the great thing is the way it is told."--NEW YORK SUN.

" ... he has a firm grasp of his period in this book, and revives the atmosphere of the last century in England, with its shallow graces and profound brutality, coherently and even with eloquence ... it is a most interesting story, which should please the reader of romantic tastes and sustain the author's reputation."--NEW YORK TRIBUNE.

"The characters in the book are all entertaining, and many of them are droll, while a few, like the conscientious Mr. Fishwick, the attorney, and the cringing parasite, Mr. Thoma.s.son, are, in their own way, masterpieces of character study. Take it all in all, 'The Castle Inn' is in many ways the best work which has yet come from Mr. Weyman's pen."--COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER, NEW YORK.

"Mr. Weyman has surpa.s.sed himself in 'The Castle Inn.' From cover to cover the book teems with adventure and romance, and the love episode is delicious. Julia will live as one of the most graceful heroines in the literature of our time.... We get an excellent idea of the doings of fas.h.i.+onable society in the time when George III. was young, and altogether the volume can be heartily recommended as the best thing that Weyman has done, and, in the opinion of one, at least, the most fascinating book of the season."--HOME JOURNAL, NEW YORK.

COUNT HANNIBAL

A ROMANCE OF THE COURT OF FRANCE

BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN

AUTHOR OF "A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE," "UNDER THE RED ROBE," "THE CASTLE INN," ETC., ETC.

With Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, cloth, ornamental, $1.50

"It is very seldom that one runs across a historical novel the plot of which is so ably sustained, the characters so strongly drawn, the local color or atmosphere so satisfactory.... 'Count Hannibal' is the strongest and most interesting novel as yet written by this popular author."--BOSTON TIMES.

"Stanley J. Weyman has had hundreds of imitators since he wrote 'A Gentleman of France,' but no man has yet surpa.s.sed him. I know of no book in the whole list of popular favorites that holds one's interest more intensely or more continuously than 'Count Hannibal' does. And what an insistent, throat-gripping interest it is!

What is the use of hoping for a decadence of the craze for historical romances so long as the public is fed on books like this? Such a story has zest for the most jaded palate; nay, it can hold the interest even of a book reviewer. From the first page to the last there is not a moment when one's desire to finish the book weakens. Along with the ordinary interest of curiosity there goes that of a delightful and unique love story involving no little skill in character delineation."--RECORD-HERALD, CHICAGO.

"A spirited, tersely interesting and most vivid story of scenes and incidents and portrayals of various characters that lived and fought and bled in the lurid days that saw the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew.... This is Mr. Weyman's most graphic and realistic novel."--PICAYUNE, NEW ORLEANS.

"Mr. Weyman has surpa.s.sed himself in 'Count Hannibal.' The scene of the story is laid chiefly in Paris, at the time of the ma.s.sacre of St.

Bartholomew.... We are made to grasp the soul of Count Hannibal and are tacitly asked to let its envelope take care of itself.... Never has Mr.

Weyman achieved, in fact, a higher degree of verisimilitude. Count Hannibal may leave us breathless with his despotic methods, but he is not abnormal; he is one of the Frenchmen who shared the temper which made the St. Bartholomew, and he is intensely human too ... how the tangle of events in which he and half a dozen others are involved is straightened out we refrain from disclosing. The reader who once takes up this book will want to find all this out for himself."--NEW YORK TRIBUNE.

"A story in Mr. Weyman's best vein, with the crimson horror of St.

Bartholomew as an historical setting. 'Count Hannibal' is a worthy companion of 'A Gentleman of France' and 'The Red c.o.c.kade,' and Mr.

Weyman's hand is as cunning as ever in fas.h.i.+oning a romance which will send a thrill through the most jaded reader and keep even a reviewer from his bed."--BOOKMAN, LONDON.

"The book is rapid, is absorbing, and the hero is a distinctly interesting character in himself, apart from his deeds of daring."--ATHENaeUM.

"Mr. Stanley Weyman's 'Count Hannibal' is fully worthy of his great reputation--the style is brilliant, easy and clear; the invention of subject and the turns of fortune in the story surprising; above all, the subtle painting of a man and a woman's heart is done with inexhaustible knowledge."--GUARDIAN.

"A picturesque and vigorous romance. The narrative will be followed with breathless interest."--TIMES, LONDON.

LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.