Opinions of the Press on the Previous Editions (cont.).
MANCHESTER COURIER.—"Praed and Calverley find a fit successor in the poet whose rhymes have so mellow and musical a ring. There are both wit and humour in many of the lines, and graver touches, as in the dedicatory poem to 'C. S. C.,' are gracefully put. The parodies, notably those of R. Browning's 'Last Ride Together,' and the lines commencing 'Birthdays, yes, in a general way' are admirable. In the 'Hundred Yards Race' Sir Walter's tone, and his rare art of usage of names, are well caught, and Austin Dobson might give an approving smile to 'The Ballade of the incompetent Ballade Monger."
SPEAKER.—"J. K. S., whoever he may be, clearly adds to some of the cunning of a poet much of the craft of the author. His 'Lapsus Calami' is not four months old, yet the infant Muse, so precocious is it, thus early boasts a bibliography. The path of the purchaser is already strewn with difficulties akin to those which beset the way of the young collector of Dickens or of Thackeray. . . . J. K. S. continues pleasantly the succession of Cambridge poets. May that succession never be broken, and may no too hasty consecration at the 'Bull' or the 'Lion' ever enable any envious Oxonian to make out even the semblance of a case against it!" A. B.
QUEEN.-"Buyers of the first edition of 'Lapsus Calami' need not hug themselves, for the second is a far more precious thing. A new edition it is called; but in fact it is hardly the same book. The first issue was over-weighted with nonsense, whilst this is full of fun. Looking along the line of our poets, it will be difficult to place J. K. S. He has studied and can affect the graces of the Calverley-cum-Dobson school; but he shuffles in this harness, and seems to laugh at himself the while. He is stronger than the bars of his cage."
GLOBE.—"J. K. S., we observe, does not 'claim to wield a poet's pen;' but there are signs in this new volume that he is something more than a persifleur, and that he might, if he liked, earn reputation in a higher and more serious calling. It remains to be seen whether he will make the best use of his literary powers."
SATURDAY REVIEW.-"The new Lapsus preserves the best examples of the old. Among the additions, the verse in praise of Tennis is excellent, and nothing of the old is more characteristic than those bright and terse examples of the new, 'England and America.'"
CAMBRIDGE: MACMILLAN AND BOWES.
