The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

“The first volume of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library of Cheap Editions forms a very good beginning to what will doubtless be a very successful undertaking. ‘Nature and Human Nature’ is one of the best of Sam Slick’s witty and humorous productions, and well entitled to the large circulation which it cannot fail to obtain in its present convenient and cheap shape. The volume combines with the great recommendations of a clear, bold type and good paper, the lesser, but attractive merits of being well illustrated and elegantly bound.”—Morning Post.

“The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and no ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one of nature’s own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and many of the scenes are full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better.”—Scotsman.

“This story is very interesting. The attachment between John Halifax and his wife is beautifully painted, as are the pictures of their domestic life, and the growing up of their children; and the conclusion of the book is beautiful and touching.”—Athenæum.

“Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful and interesting information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is its reverent and serious spirit.”—Quarterly Review.

“Mr. Warburton has fulfilled the promise of his title-page. The ‘Realities of Eastern Travel’ are described with a vividness which invests them with deep and abiding interest; while the ‘Romantic’ adventures which the enterprising tourist met with in his course are narrated with a spirit which shows how much he enjoyed these reliefs from the ennui of every-day life.”—Globe.

“‘Nathalie’ is Miss Kavanagh’s best imaginative effort. Its manner is gracious and attractive. Its matter is good. A sentiment, a tenderness, are commanded by her which are as individual as they are elegant. We should not soon come to an end were we to specify all the delicate touches and attractive pictures which place ‘Nathalie’ high among books of its class.”—Athenæum.

“These thoughts are good and humane. They are thoughts we would wish women to think: they are much more to the purpose than the treatises upon the women and daughters of England, which were fashionable some years ago, and these thoughts mark the progress of opinion, and indicate a higher tone of character, and a juster estimate of woman’s position.”—Athenæum.

“This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and feeling, and is written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as practical spirit.”—Morning Post.

“‘Adam Graeme’ is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The plot is cleverly complicated, and there is great vitality in the dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive passages, as who that has read ‘Margaret Maitland’ would not be prepared to expect? But the story has a ‘mightier magnet still,’ in the healthy tone which pervades it, in its feminine delicacy of thought and diction, and in the truly womanly tenderness of its sentiments. The eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in the life, with a delicacy, a power, and a truth which can hardly be surpassed.”—Morning Post.

“We have not the slightest intention to criticise this book. Its reputation is made, and will stand as long as that of Scott’s or Bulwer’s novels. The remarkable originality of its purpose, and the happy description it affords of American life and manners, still continue the subject of universal admiration. To say thus much is to say enough, though we must just mention that the new edition forms a part of the Publishers’ Cheap Standard Library, which has included some of the very best specimens of light literature that ever have been written.”—Messenger.

“A picturesque book on Rome and its ecclesiastical sovereigns, by an eloquent Roman Catholic. Cardinal Wiseman has here treated a special subject with so much generality and geniality that his recollections will excite no ill-feeling in those who are most conscientiously opposed to every idea of human infallibility represented in Papal domination.”—Athenæum.

“‘A Life for a Life’ is a book of a high class. The characters are depicted with a masterly hand; the events are dramatically set forth; the descriptions of scenery and sketches of society are admirably penned; moreover, the work has an object—a clearly defined moral—most poetically, most beautifully drawn, and through all there is that strong, reflective mind visible which lays bare the human heart and human mind to the very core.”—Morning Post.

“A book which has afforded us no slight gratification.”—Athenæum.

“From the mixture of description, anecdote, biography, and criticism, this book is very pleasant reading.”—Spectator.

“A more agreeable and entertaining book has not been published since Boswell produced his reminiscences of Johnson.”—Observer.

“We recommend all who are in search of a fascinating novel to read this work for themselves. They will find it well worth their while. There are a freshness and originality about it quite charming, and there is a certain nobleness in the treatment both or sentiment and incident which is not often found.”—Athenæum.

“A peculiar interest attaches to sketches of colonial life, and readers could not have a safer guide than the talented author of this work, who, by a residence of half a century, has practically grasped the habits, manners, and social conditions of the colonists he describes. All who wish to form a fair idea of the difficulties and pleasures of life in a new country, unlike England in some respects, yet like it in many, should read this book.”—John Bull.

“This last production of the author of ‘The Crescent and the Cross’ has the same elements of a very wide popularity. It will please its thousands.”—Globe.

“Eliot Warburton’s active and productive genius is amply exemplified in the present book. We have seldom met with any work in which the realities of history and the poetry of fiction were more happily interwoven.”—Illustrated News.

“It were impossible to praise too highly this most interesting book, whether we should have regard to its excellent plan or its not less excellent execution. It ought to be found on every drawing-room table. Here you have nearly fifty captivating romances with the pith of all their interest preserved in undiminished poignancy, and any one may be read in half an hour. It is not the least of their merits that the romances are founded on fact—or what, at least, has been handed down for truth by long tradition—and the romance reality far exceeds the romance of fiction.”—Standard.

“We have had frequent opportunities of commending Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library. For neatness, elegance, and distinctness the volumes in this series surpass anything with which we are familiar. ‘The Laird of Norlaw’ will fully sustain the author’s high reputation. The reader is carried on from first to last with an energy of sympathy that never flags.”—Sunday Times.

“‘The Laird of Norlaw’ is worthy of the author’s reputation. It is one of the most exquisite of modern novels.”—Observer.

“Mrs. Gretton had opportunities which rarely fall to the lot of strangers of becoming acquainted with the inner life and habits of a part of the Italian peninsula which is the very centre of the national crisis. We can praise her performance as interesting, unexaggerated, and full of opportune instruction.”—The Times.

“Mrs. Gretton’s book is timely, life-like, and for every reason to be recommended. It is impossible to close the book without liking the writer as well as the subject. The work is engaging, because real.”—Athenæum.

“‘Nothing New’ displays all those superior merits which have made ‘John Halifax’ one of the most popular works of the day. There is a force and truthfulness about these tales which mark them as the production of no ordinary mind, and we cordially recommend them to the perusal of all lovers of fiction.”—Morning Post.

“We have read this book with great pleasure, and have no hesitation in recommending it to general perusal. It reflects the highest credit on the industry and ability of Miss Freer. Nothing can be more interesting than her story of the life of Jeanne D’Albret, and the narrative is as trustworthy as it is attractive.”—Morning Post.

“If asked to classify this work, we should give it a place between ‘John Halifax’ and ‘The Caxtons.’”—Standard.

“The spirit in which the whole book is written is refined and good.”—Athenæum.

“This is in every sense a charming novel.”—Messenger.

“This attractive book will be perused with much interest. It contains a great variety of singular and highly romantic stories.”—John Bull.

“A work of singular interest, which can never fail to charm and absorb the reader’s attention. The present cheap and elegant edition includes the true story of the Colleen Bawn.”—Illustrated News.

“‘Adèle’ is the best work we have read by Miss Kavanagh; it is a charming story, full of delicate character-painting. The interest kindled in the first chapter burns brightly to the close.”—Athenæum.

“‘Adèle’ will fully sustain the reputation of Miss Kavanagh, high as it already ranks.”—John Bull.

“‘Adèle’ is a love-story of very considerable pathos and power. It is a very clever novel.”—Daily News.

“These ‘Studies’ are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often earnest, always full of right feeling, and occasionally lightened by touches of quiet, genial humour. The volume is remarkable for thought, sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling for all things good and beautiful.”—Morning Post.

“These ‘Studies from Life’ are remarkable for graphic power and observation. The book will not diminish the reputation of the accomplished author.”—Saturday Review.

“We commend ‘Grandmother’s Money’ to readers in search of a good novel. The characters are true to human nature, and the story is interesting.”—Athenæum.

“A book to be read and re-read; fit for the study as well as the drawing-room table and the circulating library.”—Lancet.

“This is a pleasant book for the fireside season, and for the seaside season. Mr. Jeaffreson has, out of hundreds of volumes, collected thousands of good things, adding thereto much that appears in print for the first time, and which, of course, gives increased value to this very readable book.”—Athenæum.

“We advise all who have the opportunity to read this book. It is well worth the study.”—Athenæum.

“A work of great originality, merit, and power.”—Standard.

“A good wholesome book, gracefully written, and as pleasant to read as it is instructive.”—Athenæum.

“A charming tale, charmingly told.”—Standard.

“‘Lost and Saved’ will be read with eager interest by those who love a touching story; it is a vigorous novel.”—Times.

“This story is animated, full of exciting situations and stirring incidents. The characters are delineated with great power. Above and beyond these elements of a good novel, there is that indefinable charm with which true genius invests all it touches.”—Daily News.

“The merits of ‘Les Miserables’ do not merely consist in the conception of it as a whole; it abounds with details of unequalled beauty. M. Victor Hugo has stamped upon every page the hall-mark of genius.”—Quarterly Review.

“It is not often that we light upon a novel of so much merit and interest as ‘Barbara’s History.’ It is a work conspicuous for taste and literary culture. It is a very graceful and charming book, with a well-managed story, clearly-cut characters, and sentiments expressed with an exquisite elocution. The dialogues especially sparkle with repartee. It is a book which the world will like. This is high praise of a work of art, and so we intend it.”—The Times.

“A good book on a most interesting theme.”—Times.

“A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. ‘Irving’s Life’ ought to have a niche in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of instruction, interest, and consolation.”—Saturday Review.

“This novel is the work of one who possesses a great talent for writing, as well as experience and knowledge of the world. The whole book is worth reading.”—Athenæum.

“‘St. Olave’s’ belongs to a lofty order of fiction. It is a good novel, but it is something more. It is written with unflagging ability, and it is as even as it is clever. The author has determined to do nothing short of the best, and has succeeded.”—Morning Post.

“Dip where you will into this lottery of fun, you are sure to draw out a prize. These ‘Traits’ exhibit most successfully the broad national features of American humour.”—Post.

“A more charming story has rarely been written. It is a choice gift to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its depths with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a radiance so eminently the writer’s own.”—Times.

“No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades the work from the first page to the last.”—Athenæum.

“A novel of uncommon merit. Sir Walter Scott said he would advise no man to try to read ‘Clarissa Harlowe’ out loud in company if he wished to keep his character for manly superiority to tears. We fancy a good many hardened old novel-readers will feel a rising in the throat as they follow the fortunes of Alec and Annie.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“‘Agnes’ is a novel superior to any of Mrs. Oliphant’s former works.”—Athenæum.

“Mrs. Oliphant is one of the most admirable of our novelists. In her works there are always to be found high principle, good taste, sense, and refinement. ‘Agnes’ is a story whose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all readers.”—Morning Post.

“Few men and no women will read ‘A Noble Life’ without feeling themselves the better for the effort.”—Spectator.

“A beautifully written and touching tale. It is a noble book.”—Morning Post.

“‘A Noble Life’ is remarkable for the high types of character it presents, and the skill with which they are made to work out a story of powerful and pathetic interest.”—Daily News.

“A very interesting book. Mr. Dixon has written thoughtfully and well.”—Times.

“We recommend everyone who feels any interest in human nature to read Mr. Dixon’s very interesting book.”—Saturday Review.

“‘Robert Falconer’ is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human interest. It is a book to be returned to again and again for the deep and searching knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings.”—Athenæum.

“‘The Woman’s Kingdom’ sustains the author’s reputation as a writer of the purest and noblest kind of domestic stories.”—Athenæum.

“‘The Woman’s Kingdom’ is remarkable for its romantic interest. The characters are masterpieces. Edna is worthy of the hand that drew John Halifax.”—Morning Post.

“A racy, well-written, and original novel. The interest never flags. The whole work sparkles with wit and humour.”—Quarterly Review.

“A novel which is the work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest class of readers.”—Times.

“We earnestly recommend this novel. It is a special and worthy specimen of the author’s remarkable powers. The reader’s attention never for a moment flags.”—Post.

“‘A Brave Lady’ thoroughly rivets the unmingled sympathy of the reader, and her history deserves to stand foremost among the author’s works.”—Daily Telegraph.

“A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty.”—Standard.

“A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most successful efforts of a successful novelist.”—Daily News.

“This is one of the most amusing books that we ever read.”—Standard.

“‘The Americans at Home’ will not be less popular than any of Judge Halliburton’s previous works.”—Morning Post.

“These stories are gems of narrative. Indeed, some of them, in their touching grace and simplicity, seem to us to possess a charm even beyond the authoress’s most popular novels. Of none of them can this be said more emphatically than of that which opens the series, ‘The Unkind Word.’ It is wonderful to see the imaginative power displayed in the few delicate touches by which this successful love-story is sketched out.”—The Echo.

“‘A Rose in June’ is as pretty as its title. The story is one of the best and most touching which we owe to the industry and talent of Mrs. Oliphant, and may hold it own with even ‘The Chronicles of Carlingford.’”—Times.

“This story presents a number of vivid and very charming pictures. Indeed, the whole book is charming. It is interesting in both character and story, and thoroughly good of its kind.”—Saturday Review.

“This last ‘Chronicle of Carlingford’ not merely takes rank fairly beside the first which introduced us to ‘Salem Chapel,’ but surpasses all the intermediate records. Phœbe, Junior, herself is admirably drawn.”—Academy.

“A work of remarkable merit and interest, which will, we doubt not, become the most popular English history of Marie Antoinette.”—Spectator.

“‘Sir Gibbie’ is a book of genius.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“This book has power, pathos, and humour.”—Athenæum.

“‘Young Mrs. Jardine’ is a pretty story, written in pure English.”—The Times.

“There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome.”—Athenæum.

“A very readable story. The author has well conceived the purpose of high-class novel-writing, and succeeded in no small measure in attaining it. There is plenty of variety, cheerful dialogue, and general ‘verve’ in the book.”—Athenæum.

“In ‘It was a Lover and his Lass,’ we admire Mrs. Oliphant exceedingly. It would be worth reading a second time, were it only for the sake of one ancient Scottish spinster, who is nearly the counterpart of the admirable Mrs. Margaret Maitland.”—Times.

“Mr. Jeaffreson comes forward with a narrative which must take a very important place in Byronic literature; and it may reasonably be anticipated that this book will be regarded with deep interest by all who are concerned in the works and the fame of this great English poet.”—The Times.

“It is scarcely necessary to sign ‘Through the Long Night,’ for the practised pen of Mrs. Lynn Linton stands revealed on every page of it. It is like so many of its predecessors, hard and bright, full of entertaining reflection and brisk development of plot.”—Saturday Review.

“This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed to trace the career from boyhood to age of a perfect man—a Christian gentleman; and it abounds in incident both well and highly wrought. Throughout it is conceived in a high spirit, and written with great ability. This cheap and handsome new edition is worthy to pass freely from hand to hand as a gift-book in many households.”—Examiner.

“The story is very interesting. The attachment between John Halifax and his wife is beautifully painted, as are the pictures of their domestic life, and the growing up of their children, and the conclusion of the book is beautiful and touching.”—Athenæum.

“The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this his history is no ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one of nature’s own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and is full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better.”—Scotsman.

“A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well written, true hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author for means of doing so.”—Examiner.

“These thoughts are worthy of the earnest and enlightened mind, the all-embracing charity, and the well-earned reputation of the author of ‘John Halifax.’”—Standard.

“This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and feeling, and is written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as practical spirit.”—Post.

“We are always glad to welcome this author. She writes from her own convictions, and she has the power not only to conceive clearly what it is that she wishes to say, but to express it in language effective and vigorous. In ‘A Life for a Life’ she is fortunate in a good subject, and she has produced a work of strong effect. The reader, having read the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of our persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete with a graceful tender delicacy; and, in addition to its other merits, it is written in good careful English.”—Athenæum.

“‘Nothing New’ displays all those superior merits which have made ‘John Halifax’ one of the most popular works of the day.”—Post.

“The reader will find these narratives calculated to remind him of that truth and energy of human portraiture, that spell over human affections and emotions, which have stamped this author as one of the first novelists of our day.”—John Bull.

“‘The Woman’s Kingdom’ sustains the author’s reputation as a writer of the purest and noblest kind of domestic stories. The novelist’s lesson is given with admirable force and sweetness.”—Athenæum.

“‘The Woman’s Kingdom’ is remarkable for its romantic interest. The characters are masterpieces. Edna is worthy of the hand that drew John Halifax.”—Post.

“These studies are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often earnest, always full of right feeling, and occasionally lightened by touches of quiet genial humour. The volume is remarkable for thought, sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling for all things good and beautiful.”—Post.

“A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. Within the compass of a single volume the writer has hit off a circle of varied characters, all true to nature—some true to the highest nature—and she has entangled them in a story which keeps us in suspense till the knot is happily and gracefully resolved; while, at the same time, a pathetic interest is sustained by an art of which it would be difficult to analyse the secret It is a choice gift to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its depths with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a radiance so eminently the writer’s own. Even if tried by the standard of the Archbishop of York, we should expect that even he would pronounce ‘Christian’s Mistake’ a novel without a fault.”—The Times.

“This is a story good to have from the circulating library, but better to have from one’s bookseller, for it deserves a place in that little collection of clever and wholesome stories which forms one of the comforts of a well-appointed home.”—Examiner.

“A good, wholesome book, as pleasant to read as it is instructive.”—Athenæum.

“This book is written with the same true-hearted earnestness as ‘John Halifax.’ The spirit of the whole work is excellent”—Examiner.

“A charming tale charmingly told.”—Standard.

“This is one of those pleasant tales in which the author of John Halifax’ speaks out of a generous heart the purest truths of life.”—Examiner.

“Few men, and no women, will read ‘A Noble Life’ without finding themselves the better.”—Spectator.

“A story of powerful and pathetic interest.”—Daily News.

“A very good novel, showing a tender sympathy with human nature, and permeated by a pure and noble spirit.”—Examiner.

“A most charming story.”—Standard.

“We earnestly recommend this novel. It is a special and worthy specimen of the author’s remarkable powers. The reader’s attention never for a moment flags.”—Post.

“A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most successful efforts of a successful novelist.”—Daily News.

“A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty.”—Standard.

“The author of ‘John Halifax’ has written many fascinating stories, but we can call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring charm than the graceful sketches in this work. Such a character as Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of all that is truly noble, pure, and womanly.”—United Service Magazine.

“‘Young Mrs. Jardine’ is a pretty story, written in pure English.”—The Times.

“There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome.”—Athenæum.

“A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any of its predecessors in elevation of thought and style, it is perhaps their superior in interest of plot and dramatic intensity. The characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural and clear.”—Morning Post.

“No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades the work from the first page to the last.”—Athenæum.

“A novel of uncommon merit. Sir Walter Scott said he would advise no man to try to read ‘Clarissa Harlowe’ out loud in company if he wished to keep his character for manly superiority to tears. We fancy a good many hardened old novel-readers will feel a rising in the throat as they follow the fortunes of Alec and Annie.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“The whole story is one of surpassing excellence and beauty.”—Daily News.

“This book is full of good thought and good writing. Dr. Mac Donald looks in his stories more to the souls of men and women than to their social outside. He reads life and Nature like a true poet.”—Examiner.

“‘Robert Falconer’ is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human interest. It is a work to be returned to again and again for the deep and searching knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings.”—Athenæum.

“This story abounds in exquisite specimens of the word-painting in which Dr. Mac Donald excels, charming transcripts of Nature, full of light, air, and colour.”—Saturday Review.

“This noble story displays to the best advantage all the powers of Dr. Mac Donald’s genius.”—Illustrated London News.

“‘Robert Falconer’ is the noblest work of fiction that Dr. Mac Donald has yet produced.”—British Quarterly Review.

“The dialogues in ‘Robert Falconer’ are so finely blended with humour and pathos as to make them in themselves an intellectual treat to which the reader returns again and again.”—Spectator.

“A novel which is the work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest class of readers.”—Times.

“There are many beautiful passages and descriptions in this book. The characters are extremely well drawn.”—Athenæum.

“A clever novel. The incidents are exciting and the interest is maintained to the close. It may be doubted if Sir Walter Scott himself ever painted a Scotch fireside with more truth than Dr. Mac Donald.”—Morning Post.

“David Elginbrod is the finest character we have met in fiction for many a day. The descriptions of natural scenery are vivid, truthful and artistic; the general reflections are those of a refined, thoughtful, and poetical philosopher, and the whole moral atmosphere of the book is lofty, pure, and invigorating.”—Globe.

“‘Sir Gibbie’ is a book of genius.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“This book has power, pathos, and humour. There is not a character which is not lifelike. There are many powerful scenes, and the portraits will stay long in our memory.”—Athenæum.

“‘Sir Gibbie’ is unquestionably a book of genius. It abounds in humour, pathos, insight into character, and happy touches of description.”—Graphic.

“‘Sir Gibbie’ contains some of the most charming writing the author has yet produced-”—Scotsman.

“‘Sir Gibbie’ is one of the most touching and beautiful stories that has been written for many years. It is not a novel to be idly read and laid aside; it is a grand work, to be kept near at hand, and studied and thought over.”—Morning Post.

“We enjoy our old friend’s company with unabated relish. This work is a rattling miscellany of sharp sayings, stories, and hard hits. It is full of fun and fancy.”—Athenæum.

“Since Sam’s first work he has written nothing so fresh, racy, and genuinely humorous as this. Every line of it tells in some way or other—instructively, satirically, jocosely, or wittily. Admiration of Sam’s mature talents, and laughter at his droll yarns, constantly alternate as with unhalting avidity we peruse the work. The Clockmaker proves himself the fastest time-killer a-going.”—Observer.

“This delightful book will be the most popular, as beyond doubt it is the best, of all the author’s admirable works.”—Standard.

“The book before us will be read and laughed over. Its quaint and racy dialect will please some readers—its abundance of yarns will amuse others. There is something to suit readers of every humour.”—Athenæum.

“The humour of Sam Slick is inexhaustible. He is ever and everywhere a welcome visitor; smiles greet his approach, and wit and wisdom hang upon his tongue. We promise our readers a great treat from the perusal of these ‘Wise Saws,’ which contain a world of practical wisdom, and a treasury of the richest fun.”—Morning Post.

“By common consent this work is regarded as one of the raciest, truest to life, most humorous, and most interesting works which have proceeded from the prolific pen of its author. We all know what shrewdness of observation, what power of graphic description, what natural resources of drollery, and what a happy method of hitting off the broader characteristics of the life he reviews, belong to Judge Haliburton. We have all those qualities here; but they are balanced by a serious literary purpose, and are employed in the communication of information respecting certain phases of colonial experience which impart to the work an element of sober utility.”—Sunday Times.

“No man has done more than the facetious Judge Haliburton, through the mouth of the inimitable ‘Sam’ to make the old parent country recognise and appreciate her queer transatlantic progeny. His present collection of comic stories and laughable traits is a budget of fun, full of rich specimens of American humour.”—Globe.

“Yankeeism, portrayed in its raciest aspect, constitutes the contents of these superlatively entertaining sketches. The work embraces the most varied topics—political parties, religious eccentricities, the flights of literature, and the absurdities of pretenders to learning, all come in for their share of satire; while we have specimens of genuine American exaggerations and graphic pictures of social and domestic life as it is. The work will have a wide circulation.”—John Bull.

“In this highly entertaining work we are treated to another cargo of capital stories from the inexhaustible store of our Yankee friend. In the volume before us he dishes up, with his accustomed humour and terseness of style, a vast number of tales, none more entertaining than another, and all of them graphically illustrative of the ways and manners of brother Jonathan. The anomalies of American law, the extraordinary adventures incident to life in the backwoods, and, above all, the peculiarities of American society, are variously, powerfully, and, for the most part, amusingly exemplified.”—John Bull.

“In the picturesque delineation of character, and the felicitous portraiture of national features, no writer equals Judge Haliburton, and the subjects embraced in the present delightful book call forth, in new and vigorous exercise, his peculiar powers. ‘The Americans at Home’ will not be less popular than any of his previous works.”—Post.

“‘Adam Graeme’ is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The plot is cleverly complicated, and there is great vitality in the dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive passages, as who that has read ‘Margaret Maitland’ would not be prepared to expect? But the story has a ‘mightier magnet still,’ in the healthy tone which pervades it, in its feminine delicacy of thought and diction, and in the truly womanly tenderness of its sentiments. The eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in the life, with a delicacy, a power, and a truth which can hardly be surpassed.”—Morning Post.

“We have had frequent opportunities of commending Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library. For neatness, elegance, and distinctness the volumes in this series surpass anything with which we are familiar. ‘The Laird of Norlaw’ will fully sustain the author’s high reputation. The reader is carried on from first to last with an energy of sympathy that never flags.”—Sunday Times.

“‘The Laird of Norlaw’ is worthy of the author’s reputation. It is one of the most exquisite of modern novels.”—Observer.

“In ‘It was a Lover and his Lass,’ we admire Mrs. Oliphant exceedingly. Her story is a very pretty one. It would be worth reading a second time, were it only for the sake of one ancient Scottish spinster, who is nearly the counterpart of the admirable Mrs. Margaret Maitland.”—Times.

“‘Agnes’ is a novel superior to any of Mrs. Oliphant’s former works.”—Athenæum.

“Mrs. Oliphant is one of the most admirable of our novelists. In her works there are always to be found high principle, good taste, sense, and refinement. ‘Agnes’ is a story whose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all readers.”—Morning Post.

“‘A Rose in June’ is as pretty as its title. The story is one of the best and most touching which we owe to the industry and talent of Mrs. Oliphant, and may hold its own with even ‘The Chronicles of Carlingford.’”—Times.

“This last ‘Chronicle of Carlingford’ not merely takes rank fairly beside the first which introduced us to ‘Salem Chapel,’ but surpasses all the intermediate records. Phœbe, Junior, herself is admirably drawn.”—Academy.

“A good book on a most interesting theme.”—Times.

“A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. ‘Irving’s Life’ ought to have a niche in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of instruction, interest, and consolation.”—Saturday Review.

“We have read this book with great pleasure, and have no hesitation in recommending it to general perusal. It reflects the highest credit on the industry and ability of Miss Freer. Nothing can be more interesting than her story of the life of Jeanne D’Albret, and the narrative is as trustworthy as it is attractive.”—Morning Post.

“A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. ‘Irving’s Life’ ought to have a niche in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of instruction, interest, and consolation.”—Saturday Review.

“A work of remarkable merit and interest, which will, we doubt not, become the most popular English history of Marie Antoinette.”—Spectator.

“Mr. Jeaffreson comes forward with a narrative which must take a very important place in Byronic literature; and it may reasonably be anticipated that this book will be regarded with deep interest by all who are concerned in the works and the fame of this great English poet.”—The Times.

“Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful and interesting information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is its reverent and serious spirit.”—Quarterly Review.

“This is a pleasant book for the fireside season, and for the seaside season. Mr. Jeaffreson has, out of hundreds of volumes, collected thousands of good things, adding thereto much that appears in print for the first time, and which, of course, gives increased value to this very readable book.”—Athenæum.

“It were impossible to praise too highly this most interesting book, whether we should have regard to its excellent plan or its not less excellent execution. It ought to be found on every drawing-room table. Here you have nearly fifty captivating romances with the pith of all their interest preserved in undiminished poignancy, and any one may be read in half-an-hour.”—Standard.

“We have no hesitation in declaring that ‘The Awakening of Mary Fenwick’ is the best novel of its kind that we have seen for some years. It is apparently a first effort, and, as such, is really remarkable. The story is extremely simple. Mary Mauser marries her husband for external, and perhaps rather inadequate, reasons, and then discovers that he married her because she was an heiress. She feels the indignity acutely, and does not scruple to tell him her opinion—her very candid opinion—of his behaviour. That is the effect of the first few chapters, and the rest of Miss Whitby’s book is devoted to relating how this divided couple hated, quarrelled, and finally fell in love with one another. Mary Fenwick and her husband live and move and make us believe in them in a way which few but the great masters of fiction have been able to compass.”—Athenæum.

“Our old friend the governess makes a re-entry into fiction under the auspices of Beatrice Whitby in ‘One Reason Why.’ Readers generally, however, will take a great deal more interest, for once, in the children than in their instructress. ‘Bay’ and ‘Ellie’ are charmingly natural additions to the children of novel-land; so much so, that there is a period when one dreads a death-bed scene for one of them—a fear which is happily unfulfilled. The name of the authoress will be remembered by many in conjunction with ‘The Awakening of Mary Fenwick.’”—Graphic.

“The book is a thoroughly good one. The theme is fairly familiar—the rebellion of a spirited girl against a match which has been arranged for her without her knowledge or consent; her resentment at being treated, not as a woman with a heart and will, but as ‘part of the property’; and her final discovery, which is led up to with real dramatic skill, that the thing against which her whole nature had risen in revolt has become the one desire of her heart. The mutual relations each to each of the impetuous Madge, her self-willed, stubborn grandfather, who has arranged the match, and her lover Jocelyn, with his loyal, devoted sweetly-balanced nature, are portrayed with fine truth of insight; but perhaps the author’s greatest triumph is the portrait of Mrs. Lindsay, who, with the knowledge of the terrible skeleton in the cupboard of her apparently happy home, wears so bravely the mask of light gaiety as to deceive everybody but the one man who knows her secret.”—Spectator.

“A description of a home stripped by the cold wind of poverty of all its comforts, but which remains home still. The careless optimism of the head of the family would be incredible, if we did not know how men exist full of responsibilities yet free from solicitudes, and who tread with a jaunty step the very verge of ruin; his inconsolable widow would be equally improbable, if we did not meet every day with women who devote themselves to such idols of clay. The characters of their charming children, whose penury we deplore, do not deteriorate, as often happens in that cruel ordeal. A sense of fairness pervades the book which is rarely found in the work of a lady. There is interest in it from first to last, and its pathos is relieved by touches of true humour.”—Illustrated London News.

“This is one of the most delightful novels we have read for a long time. ‘Bab’ Fenwick is an ‘out of doors’ kind of girl, full of spirit, wit, go, and sin, both original and acquired. Her lover, Jack, is all that a hero should be, and great and magnanimous as he is, finds some difficulty in forgiving the insouciante mistress all her little sins of omission and commission. When she finally shoots him in the leg—by accident—the real tragedy of the story begins. The whole is admirable, if a little long.”—Black and White.

“This is one of the most delightful novels we have read for a long time. ‘Bab’ Fenwick is an ‘out of doors’ kind of girl, full of spirit, wit, go, and sin, both original and acquired. Her lover, Jack, is all that a hero should be, and great and magnanimous as he is, finds some difficulty in forgiving the insouciante mistress all her little sins of omission and commission. When she finally shoots him in the leg—by accident—the real tragedy of the story begins. The whole is admirable, if a little long.”—Black and White.

“M. E. Le Clerc devotes herself to historic fiction, and her success is sufficient to justify her in the occasional production of stories like ‘Mistress Beatrice Cope’ and ‘Robert Carroll.’ Beatrice Cope was a Jacobite’s daughter, so far as memory serves, and Robert Carroll was the son of a Jacobite baronet, who played and lost his stake at Preston, fighting for the Old Pretender. Of course the hero loved a maiden whose father was a loyal servant of King George, and, almost equally of course one of this maiden’s brothers was a Jacobite. A second brother, by the way, appears as a lad of sixteen in the spring of 1714, and as a wounded colonel of cavalry on the morrow of the fight at Preston less than two years later—rapid promotion even for those days, though certainly not impossible. The author has taken pains to be accurate in her references to the events of the time, and her blend of fact and fiction is romantic enough.”—Athenæum.

“It is a comfort to turn from the slipshod English and the tiresome slang of many modern novels to the easy and cultured style of ‘The Husband of One Wife,’ and we have been thoroughly interested in the story, as well as pleased with the manner in which it is told. As for Mrs. Goldenour, afterwards Mrs. Garfoyle, afterwards Mrs. Pengelley, she is certainly one of the most attractive as well as one of the most provoking of heroines, and Mrs. Venn has succeeded admirably in describing her under both aspects. The scene of the dinner-party, and the description of the bishop’s horror at its magnificence is very clever. We are very glad to meet several old friends again, especially Mrs. Gruter, who is severe and amusing as ever. Altogether we feel that Mrs. Venn’s novels are books to which we can confidently look forward with pleasure.”—Guardian.

“The story will be followed with unfaltering interest. Nor is anything short of unmixed praise due to several of the episodes and separate incidents of which it is composed. The principal characters—Delmar, Zoé’s cousin and lover—stand out in decided and life-like relief. In the sketches of scenery, especially those of the coast of Brittany and the aspect of its sea, both in calm and storm, Miss Betham-Edwards need not fear comparison with the best masters of the art.”—Spectator.

“The book is one that may be read with pleasure; it is fluently, flowingly, carefully written; and it contains very pleasant sketches of character.”—Academy.