Britain ... - Blue-Lite

CRITICAL OPINIONS OF THE FIRST SERIES.
" We speak of these Dramas, collectively, as a work of great and sterling
merit, and pronounce the general tenour of its language to be highly poetical
and impassioned." The Magazine of the Beau Monde.
" These Dramas were never intended to be performed, but to be read.
Judging them, therefore, by the standard by which they ought to be judged, we
have no hesitation in pronouncing them to be as just in sentiment as they are
spirited and elegant in style.
It gives us great pleasure to remark, that the
work as a whole has the merit of originality, and that numerous passages in
it are as beautiful as they are spirited." Morning Advertiser.
" The author of this charming work, which is one of great poetic beauty,
is a writer of deep research. The student of history will be delighted and
profited by its perusal, and much more so, if he possess a taste for true poetic
delineation of character." Keene's Bath Journal.
" We are glad to see that Mr. Pennie's work has received so much highly
merited approbation, as to induce a well-founded expectation, that he will be
encouraged to proceed to the completion of his noble plan." Falmouth Packet
and Cornish Herald.
" The plan of this volume before us is new, and we must add that many of
the most obvious and formidable difficulties of the undertaking have been
overcome with surprising facility. The author has studied the antiquarian
part of the undertaking with exemplary perseverance, and the spirit of his
dialogue and versification is of the true dramatic order. His Plays would act
well ; and that is almost the last praise which the announcement of their
design made us expect we should have occasion to bestow. If appropriately
got up, their representation would be by no means deficient in dramatic interest,
while it would also furnish an excellent
The Monthly Repository.
series of Lectures on History."
" The Tragedies in this volume form such a production, in its nature and
design, as no other author or country has ever yet produced, and consequently
it is well worthy to be entitled a National Work. The diction in general is
highly poetical, and often sublime. But there is a charm about these pieces
even beyond all this, which we admire, it is the racy and faithful picture of
the age and people to which the scenes belong. In this the author, as a
dramatist, has no rival." The Olio.
" There is much wild and beautiful romance in the diction. We must add
that a more delightful collection of Notes was never appended to any poem.
Would that all commentators had so assiduously illustrated their text. Here
is none of the literary indolence by which nine out of ten works are disfigured,
nor the fiddle-faddle Notes which some folks must have written in their
dreams." The Mirror.
" The author is well-known as an industrious and able chronicler of the
old time, who has succeeded in awakening an interest in the ancient
history
of Britain, by diffusing the beams of a rich and fertile mind over the waste of
the Druidical and Anglo-Saxon periods, heretofore almost untrod by poet or
painter, and but slightly touched by the historian. Mr. Pennie's mind lingers
witlt the ancient of days, and he revels among cairns, cromlechs, and the
tokens of the early history of our country, with an affection that entitles him
to be called the Poet of Antiquarians. He has brought before us, 'the very age
and
body of the time, its form and pressure.' We heartily wish Mr. Pennie
the success his work so justly deserves, which may be truly
called a national
one." Devonpwt Telegraph and Plymouth Chronicle.