Nancy Part 69

"Mr. Hawthorne's book forms a remarkable contrast, in point of power and interest, to the dreary ma.s.s of so-called romances through which the reviewer works his way. It is not our purpose to forestall the reader, by any detailed account of the story; suffice it to say that, if we can accept the preliminary difficulty of the problem, its solution, in all its steps, is most admirably worked out."

_From the Pall Mall Gazette._

"So far as a man may be judged by his first work, Mr. Julian Hawthorne is endowed with a large share of his father's peculiar genius. We trace in 'Bressant' the same intense yearning after a high and spiritual life, the same pa.s.sionate love of nature, the same subtlety and delicacy of remark, and also a little of the same tendency to indulge in the use of a half-weird, half-fantastic imagery."

_From the New York Times._

"'Bressant' is, then, a work that demonstrates the fitness of its author to bear the name of Hawthorne. More in praise need not be said; but, if the promise of the book shall not utterly fade and vanish, Julian Hawthorne, in the maturity of his power, will rank side by side with him who has. .h.i.therto been peerless, but whom we must hereafter call the 'Elder Hawthorne.'"

_From the Boston Post._

"There is beauty as well as power in this novel, the two so pleasantly blended, that the sudden and incomplete conclusion, although ending the romance with an abruptness that is itself artistic, comes only too soon for the reader."

_From the Boston Globe._

"It is by far the most original novel of the season that has been published at home or abroad, and will take high rank among the best American novels ever written."

_From the Boston Gazette._

"There is a strength in the book which takes it in a marked degree out or the range of ordinary works of fiction. It is substantially an original story. There are freshness and vigor in every part."

_From the Home Journal._

"'Bressant' is a remarkable romance, full of those subtle touches of fancy, and that insight into the human heart, which distinguish genius from the mere clever and entertaining writers of whom we have perhaps too many."

NOW READY, A NEW EDITION OF

_THE HOUSEHOLD OF BOUVERIE._

BY THE AUTHOR OF "MIRIAM MONFORT."

_From Gail Hamilton, author of "Gala Days," etc._

"'The Household of Bouverie' is one of those nuisances of books that pluck out all your teeth, and then dare you to bite them. Your interest is awakened in the first chapter, and you are whirled through in a lightning-express train that leaves you no opportunity to look at the little details of wood, and lawn, and river. You notice two or three little peculiarities of style--one or two 'bits' of painting--and then you pull on your seven-leagued boots, and away you go."

_From John G. Saxe, the Poet._

"It is a strange romance, and will bother the critics not a little. The interest of the book is undeniable, and is wonderfully sustained to the end of the story. I think it exhibits far more power than any lady-novel of recent date, and it certainly has the rare merit of entire originality."

_From Marion Harland, author of "Alone," "Hidden Path," etc._

"As to Mrs. Warfield's wonderful book, I have read it twice--the second time more carefully than the first--and I use the term 'wonderful'

because it best expresses the feeling uppermost in my mind, both while reading and thinking it over. As a piece of imaginative writing, I have seen nothing to equal it since the days of Edgar A. Poe, and I doubt whether he could have sustained himself and reader through a book of half the size of the 'Household of Bouverie.' I was literally hurried through it by my intense sympathy, my devouring curiosity--it was more than interest. I read everywhere--between the courses of the hotel-table, on the boat, in the cars--until I had swallowed the last line. This is no common occurrence with a veteran romance-reader like myself."

_From George Ripley's Review of "The Household of Bouverie," in Harper's Magazine, November, 1860._

"Everywhere betraying a daring boldness of conception, singular fertility of ill.u.s.tration, and a combined beauty and vigor of expression, which it would be difficult to match in any recent works of fiction. In these days, when the most milk-and-watery plat.i.tudes are so often welcomed as sibylline inspirations, it is somewhat refres.h.i.+ng to meet with a female novel-writer who displays the unmistakable fire of genius, however terrific its brightness."

Mrs. Warfield's New Novel.

MIRIAM MONFORT.

by the author of "THE HOUSEHOLD OF BOUVERIE."

The _N. Y. Evening Post_ says of "Miriam Monfort:" "Mrs. Warfield's new novel has freshness, and is so far removed from mediocrity as to ent.i.tle it to respectful comment. Her fiction calls for study. Her perception is deep and artistic, as respects both the dramatic side of life and the beautiful. It is not strictly nature, in the general sense, that forms the basis of her descriptions. She finds something deeper and more mystic than nature in the sense in which the term is usually used by critics, in the answer of the soul to life--in the strange, weird, and lonesome music (though now and then broken by discords) of the still small voices with which human nature replies to the questions that sorely vex her. She has the a.n.a.lytic capacity in the field of psychology, which enables her to trace phenomena in a story without arguing about them, and to exhibit the dramatic side of them without stopping to explain the reasons for it. In a word, her hand is as sure as that of a master, and if there were more such novels as this simple semi-biographical story of Miriam Monfort, it would not be necessary so often to put the question, 'Is the art of fiction extinct?'"

The _Cincinnati Daily Gazette_ says: "'Miriam Monfort,' which now lies before us, is less sensational in incident than its predecessor, though it does not lack stirring events--an experience on a burning s.h.i.+p, for example. Its interest lies in the intensity which marks all the characters good and bad. The plot turns on the treachery of a pretended lover, and the author seems to have experienced every emotion of love and hate, jealousy and fear, that has inspired the creations of her pen.

There is a contagion in her earnestness, and we doubt not that numerous readers will follow the fortunes of the beautiful but much-persecuted Miriam with breathless interest."

The _All Day City Item_ says: "It is a work of extraordinary merit. The story is charmingly told by the heroine. It is admirable and original in plot, varied in incident, and intensely absorbing in interest; besides, throughout the volume, there is an exquisite combination of sensibility, pride, and loveliness, which will hold the work in high estimation. We make a quotation from the book that suits the critic exactly. 'It is splendid; it is a dream, more vivid than life itself; it is like drinking champagne, smelling tuberoses, inhaling laughing-gas, going to the opera, all at one time.' We recommend this to our young lady friends as a most thoughtfully and delightfully written novel."

APPLETONS' (so-called) PLUM-PUDDING EDITION OF THE WORKS OF CHARLES d.i.c.kENS.

LIST OF THE WORKS.

Oliver Twist 172 pp.

American Notes 104 "

Dombey and Son 356 "

Martin Chuzzlewit 341 "

Our Mutual Friend 340 "

Christmas Stories 183 "

Tale of Two Cities 144 "

Hard Times, and Additional Christmas Stories 202 "

Nicholas Nickleby 388 "

Bleak House 352 "

Little Dorrit 343 "

Pickwick Papers 326 "

David Copperfield 351 "

Barnaby Rudge 257 "

Old Curiosity Shop 221 "

Great Expectations 183 "

Sketches 194 "

Uncommercial Traveller, Pictures of Italy, etc. 300 "

Any person ordering the entire set, and remitting $5, will receive a Portrait of d.i.c.kens, suitable for framing. The entire set will be sent by mail or express, at our option, postage or freight prepaid, to any part of the United States.

_Single copies of any of the above sent to any address in the United States on the receipt of the price affixed._