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The Works of William Ernest Henley: Views and reviews
The Works of William Ernest Henley Views and reviews Author:William Ernest Henley Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DISRAELI To the general his novels must always be a kind of His caviare ; for they have no analogue in letters, but NoveU- are the output of a mind and temper... more » of singular originality. To the honest Tory, sworn to admire and unable to comprehend, they must seem inexplicable as abnormal. To the professional Radical they are so many proofs of innate inferiority: for they are full of pretentiousness and affectation ; they teem with examples of all manner of vices, from false English to an immoral delight in dukes ; they prove their maker a trickster and a charlatan in every page. To them, however, whose first care is for rare work, the series of novels that began with Vivian Grey and ended with Endymion is one of the pleasant facts in modern letters. These books abound in wit and daring, in originality and shrewdness, in knowledge of the world and in knowledge of men ; they contain many vivid and striking studies of character, both portrait and caricature ; they sparkle with speaking phrases and happy epithets ; they are aglow with the passion of youth, the love of love, the worship of physical beauty, the admiration of whatever is costly and select and splendid—from a countess to a castle, from a duke to a diamond ; they are radiant with delight in whatever is powerful or personal or attractive—from a cook to a cardinal, from an agitator to an emperor. They often remind you of Voltaire, often of Balzac, often of The Arabian Nights. You pass from an heroic drinking bout to a brilliant criticism of style ; from rhapsodies on bands and ortolans that remind you of Heine to a gambling scene that for directness and intensity may vie with the bluntest and strongest work of Prosper Merimee ; from the extravagant impudence of Popanilla to the sentimental rodomontade of Henrietta Temple ...« less