Chapter 20
"The fame of the actor more than that of any other artist is an evanescent one--a 'bubble reputation'--indeed, and necessarily so from the conditions under which his genius is exercised. While the impression it makes is often more vivid and inspiring for the moment than that of the poet and the painter, it vanishes almost with the occasion which gave it birth, and lives only as a tradition in the memory of those to whom it had immediately appealed. 'Shadows they are, and shadows they pursue.'
"The writer, therefore, who, gifted with insight and a poetic enthusiasm which enables him to discern on the one hand the beauties in a dramatic work not perceived by the many, and on the other the qualities in the actor which have made him a true interpreter of the poet's thought, at the same time possessing the faculty of revealing to us felicitously the one, and the other is certainly entitled to our grateful recognition.
"Such a writer is Mr. William Winter, easily the first,--for we know of none other living in this country, or in the England he loves so much, in whose nature the critic's vision is united with that of the poet so harmoniously....
"Over and above all this, there is in these writings the same charm of style, poetic glamour and flavor of personality which distinguish whatever comes to us from Mr. Winter's pen, and which make them unique in our literature."--_Home Journal_, New York
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OLD SHRINES AND IVY.
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CONTENTS.
_SHRINES OF HISTORY._
I. Storied Southampton.
II. Pageantry and Relics.
III. The Shakespeare Church.
IV. A Stratford Chronicle.
V. From London to Dover.
VI. Beauties of France.
VII. Ely and its Cathedral.
VIII. From Edinburgh to Inverness.
IX. The Field of Culloden.
X. Stormbound Iona.
_SHRINES OF LITERATURE._
XI. The Forest of Arden: As You Like It.
XII. Fairy Land: A Midsummer Night's Dream.
XIII. Will o' the Wisp: Love's Labour Lost.
XIV. Shakespeare's Shrew.
XV. A Mad World: Anthony and Cleopatra.
XVI. Sheridan, and the School for Scandal.
XVII. Farquhar, and the Inconstant.
XVIII. Longfellow.
XIX. A Thought on Cooper's Novels.
XX. A Man of Letters: John R.G. Hassard.
"Whatever William Winter writes is marked by felicity of diction and by refinement of style, as well as by the evidence of culture and wide reading. 'Old Shrines and Ivy' is an excellent example of the charm of his work."--_Boston Courier_.
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SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND.
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"... It was the author's wish, in dwelling thus upon the rural loveliness, and the literary and historical associations of that delightful realm, to afford sympathetic guidance and useful suggestion to other American travellers who, like himself, might be attracted to roam among the shrines of the mother-land. Temperament is the explanation of style; and he has written thus of England because she has filled his mind with beauty and his heart with mingled joy and sadness; and surely some memory of her venerable ruins, her ancient shrines, her rustic glens, her gleaming rivers, and her flower-spangled meadows will mingle with the last thoughts that glimmer through his brain when the shadows of the eternal night are falling and the ramble of life is done."--_From the Preface_.
"He offers something more than guidance to the American traveller. He is a convincing and eloquent interpreter of the august memories and venerable sanctities of the old country."--_Saturday Review_.
"The book is delightful reading."--_Scribner's Monthly_.
"Enthusiastic and yet keenly critical notes and comments on English life and scenery."--_Scotsman_.
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GRAY DAYS AND GOLD.
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CONTENTS.
Classic Shrines. Haunted Glens and Houses. Old York. The Haunts of Moore. Beautiful Bath. The Lakes and Fells of Wordsworth. Shakespeare Relics at Worcester. Byron and Hucknall Torkard. Historic Nooks and Corners. Shakespeare's Town. Up and Down the Avon. Rambles in Arden. The Stratford Fountain. Bosworth Field. The Home of Dr. Johnson. From London to Edinburgh. Into the Highlands. Highland Beauties. The Heart of Scotland. Sir Walter Scott. Elegiac Memorials. Scottish Pictures. Imperial Ruins. The Land of Marmion. At Vesper Time.
This book, which is intended as a companion to _Shakespeare's England_, relates to the gray days of an American wanderer in the British Isles, and to the gold of thought and fancy that can be found there.
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PRESS NOTICES.
"Mr. Winter's graceful and meditative style in his English sketches has recommended his earlier volume upon (Shakespeare's) England to many readers, who will not need urging to make the acquaintance of this companion book, in which the traveller guides us through the quiet and romantic scenery of the mother-country with a mingled affection and sentiment of which we have had no example since Irving's day."--_The Nation_.
"As friendly and good-humoured a book on English scenes as any American has written since Washington Irving."--_Daily News_, _London_.
"Much that is bright and best in our literature is brought once more to our dulled memories. Indeed, we know of but few volumes containing so much of observation, kindly comment, philosophy, and artistic weight as this unpretentious little book."--_Chicago Herald_.
"They who have never visited the scenes which Mr. Winter so charmingly describes will be eager to do so in order to realize his fine descriptions of them, and they who have already visited them will be incited by his eloquent recital of their attractions to repeat their former pleasant experiences."--_Public Ledger_, _Philadelphia_.
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THE NOVEL: WHAT IT IS.
By F. MARION CRAWFORD,
AUTHOR OF "CHILDREN OF THE KING," "A ROMAN SINGER," "SARACINESCA," ETC.
With Photogravure Portrait of the Author.
_18mo. Cloth. 75 cents._
THE CHOICE OF BOOKS, AND OTHER LITERARY PIECES.
By FREDERIC HARRISON,
AUTHOR OF "OLIVER CROMWELL," ETC.
_18mo. Cloth. 75 cents._
"Mr. Harrison is an able and conscientious critic, a good logician, and a clever man; his faults are superficial, and his book will not fail to be valuable."--_N.Y. Times_.
Mr. JOHN MORLEY, in his speech on the study of literature at the Mansion House, 26th February, 1887, said:
"Those who are curious as to what they should read in the region of pure literature will do well to peruse my friend Frederic Harrison's volume called _The Choice of Books_. You will find there as much wise thought, eloquently and brilliantly put, as in any volume of its size."
"Mr. Harrison furnishes a valuable contribution to the subject. It is full of suggestiveness and shrewd analytical criticism. It contains the fruits of wide reading and rich research."--_London Times_.
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