Mr. Thackeray's New Fiction.
ESMOND.
A STORY OF QUEEN ANNE'S REIGN.
By W. M. THACKERAY,
Author of "Pendennis," "Vanity Fair," &c.
In Three Volumes, Crown 8vo, Price 1l. 11s. 6d.
"A second edition of "Esmond" within a few weeks of the issue of the first, speaks significantly for Mr. Thackeray's growing popularity. . . . Mr. Thackeray has selected for his hero a very noble type of the cavalier softening into the man of the eighteenth century, and for his heroine one of the sweetest women that ever breathed from canvass or from book, since Raffaelle painted and Shakspeare wrote. Esmond will, we think, rank higher as a work of art than "Vanity Fair" or "Pendennis," because the characters are of a higher type, and drawn with greater finish, and the book is more of a complete whole. The style is manly, clear, terse, and vigorous, reflecting every mood—pathetic, grave, or sarcastic—of the writer."— Spectator.
"Once more we feel that we have before us a masculine and thorough English writer, uniting the power of subtle analysis with a strong volition and a moving eloquence—an eloquence which has gained in richness and harmony. His pathos is now sweeter,—less jarred against by angry sarcasm, but perhaps scarcely so powerful. Esmond must be read, not for its characters, but for its romantic though improbable plot, its spirited grouping, and its many thrilling utterances of the anguish of the human heart. Having reached the middle of the first volume, "forward" will be the wish of every reader of this highly-wrought work."—Athenæum.
"The interest of 'Esmond' is, in the main, purely human interest. The story is more than anything a family story. The effect is as if you had suddenly come into that old time as into a chamber; and the light you see things by is that of the warm domestic fire blazing there. By that light you see the faces of the painted old ladies, and the jolly men of letters, and the great lords, and the brave soldiers. The book is as interesting as any previous book of the author's, and more absolutely real than any historical novel since Scott's early ones."—Daily News.
"We have at once to express in the warmest terms of praise our appreciation of the skill and taste with which 'Esmond' is written. The story of the novel is ingenious and very elegantly constructed, and carried onward so as to gratify constant curiosity until the end. In short, the book thoroughly occupies our minds with a sense of strength on the part of the writer, of which the manifestation is always made gracefully."—Examiner.
"In quiet richness, 'Esmond' mainly resembles the old writers; as it does also in weight of thought, sincerity of purpose, and poetry of the heart and brain. It is wise and sweet in its recesses of thought and feeling; and is more hopeful, consolatory, and kindly than 'Vanity Fair.' Thinking and educated readers will discern in it an immense advance in literary power over Mr. Thackeray's previous writings."—Fraser's Magazine.
