... “The book is as varied, fresh, and inviting as one could wish.”

... “Mr. Burritt's writings are strongly marked by the vigor of his character,
and contain a great amount of careful thought and happy illustration.”

... “These essays form a book full of very pleasant reading, and of a certain
earnest eloquence and thought exceedingly attractive to the reader.”

... “The present volume is a peculiarly welcome one on many accounts. The
Autobiography alone would make the book popular.”

... “The `learned blacksmith' has forged many a fine thought and sentence
to be found in the present work.”

... “The writings in this voluume will be read with interest both from their
intrinsic value and the character of their author. They are mostly plain, direct, unaffected
statements on subjects of general importance. They show the ability of the
thinker as well as the cultivation of the scholar. Wise in suggestion, fertile in illustration,
and happy, often pungent, in expression, they afford a favorable specimen of the
contributions of a blacksmith to the literature of the country.”

... “A well-written and thoroughly interesting novel.”

... “Adds to its attractiveness, as a novel, the charm of elevated sentiment,
expressed in elegant and forcible English.”

... “A story of life in Kentucky some twenty or thirty years ago, and as a
picture of the life of that epoch, this book possesses great merit. It is faithful, vivid,
and spirited, without being overdone.”

... “It may be said of `Lord of Himself,' that it is a good story. After the
reader has gone a few pages into it, he is curious to know what is to happen in the last
chapter. It is also a full story. There is not a chapter in it which is not worth
reading.... Mr. Underwood has entertained and instructed us. He has given
us some admirable pictures of particular people, and a very life-like representation of
a society and a period.”

... “The scene of the story changes only temporarily from the neighborhood
of Beech Knoll, but the author finds there abundant variety of character and incident
to enrich the story. And of the studies of character, it ought to be said that they are
excellent. Uncle Ralph Beauchamp, the Fleemister family, Howard, the New Englander,
Adams, the Hoosier lawyer, the Wyndham family, and Miss Shelburn and the
slaves, are all careful studies in character delineation, distinctly individualized, natural
in action, and neither in faults nor virtues beyond the reasonable capacity of human
beings. Their relations to each other are distinctly defined, and they severally act
their parts as if inspired by their own proper motives.”

HEROINE is an Italian Girl whose romantic experiences are very interesting.

EMINENTLY a love story teaching a good lesson.

INTENSELY dramatic and exciting.

THE vivid colors in which characters are painted, will attract.

A FASCINATING and well-written story.

LIVELY, fresh, and vivid.

IT abounds in vigorous pictures of Italian life.

A VERY well-written story, romantic yet probable.

NOVEL of rare literary and artistic merit.

GOOD, especially good, is the part which treats of her debut on the stage.

IT cannot be said to be dull, whatever may be said for or against it.

RECOMMEND it as a work which cannot fail to interest and charm them.

LOVERS of art and Italy will read with keen interest this fresh story.

“The Italian Girl, by Mrs. Katherine Sedgwick Washburn, is a brilliant and
charming love story. We cordially recommend it to our readers as a work that cannot
fail to interest and charm them, not only by the clearness of the story, but by the
sparkling and artstic manner in which it is treated.”

... “We do not remember when we have enjoyed so rich a treat as this affords.”

... “Altogether, it is the most entertaining book of the kind that has come to
hand since Mark Twain gave the world the benefit of his `Innocents Abroad.'”

... “To say that this young authoress has given us an entertaining book of
foreign travel, would be to award but scant praise to the wit, humor, and keen appreciation
of all that she encounters, which overflow her chapters with fresh and sparkling
conceits.”

... “We can assure the reader that this book of travels will be delightful reading.
One feels as though he were in the society of a gay, witty, quick-eyed girl, full of
frolic, enjoying dearly a joke, even at herself.”

... “A bright, merry-hearted girl, `off on a good time;' and she and her readers
are decidedly of the opinion that the journey was a grand success. One very seldom
meets with so graphically amusing an account of a sea voyage as that found in the first
chapter.”

... “A narrative of a tour of Europe, written in a piquant, charming, and witty
style. The writer is so vivacious and genial as to insure universal approbation. As a
book of travel it is unexceptional.”

... “A more sprightly and graphic book of travels abroad one does not often
read. It has an originality all its own, that makes it uncommonly fascinating. Open
it where you will, the piece attracts and holds you attracted.”

... “Miss Trafton never forgets her nationality; is not overawed by the glitter
of wealth and show. There are no girlish sentimentalisms, no rhapsodies over French
fineries, no adoration of royal grandeur; neither is there any of the prudishness or
stilted essayisms of the strong-minded woman of the period. It is the free, untrammelled,
pure-hearted girl, that takes you into a sweet confidence, and tells her story
just as a noble, sensible girl should and would. She captivates you, and carries you
along with unabated enthusiasm.”

... “A charming picture of home life.”

... “The book is a charming love story.”

... “Designed to inculcate high moral lessons.”

... “Miss Douglas is rapidly winning fame as a pleasing, conscientious writer.”

... “Freighted with good thoughts, and well ballasted with good sense.”

... “It has a charm, however, peculiar to itself, in the perfect simplicity with
which it is told.”

... “Of many story-tellers, few have handled their subject with such delicate
feeling and good sense.”

... “We cannot omit to express our high appreciation of the literary character
of the work, and the moral lesson which it so forcibly inculcates.”

... “A hearty, healthy story. The atmosphere of the book is clear, and in
reading it you enlarge your circle of pleasant friends.”

... “An interesting story of home life, not wanting in incident, and written
in a forcible and attractive style. Miss Douglas's previous novels have been very
popular.”

... “All her works are very agreeable, but her last effort surpasses its predecessors
in the strength and force of her characters, and the breadth and finish of style.”

... “To those who already know Miss Douglas's power of investing her
characters with individual life and personality, it is not necessary to say that this is
a book of no ordinary excellence in this respect.”

... “An array of Douglas Jerrold's irony, sarcasm, wit, and humor, that will
be welcome to his admirers.”

... “It is singular that so large a number of such delightful papers, by that
most genial jester, Douglas Jerrold, should have lain so long unbound.”

... “The sketches in this book are quite diverse in character, but all made
pleasant by that subtle vein of humor, that quaint fancy, and that easy and graceful
style, which lent such a charm to all of Douglas Jerrold's works.”

... “None of the papers in this volume are included in the collected works
of the author, and will therefore be read with keen delight.”

... “These essays, though many of them so brief and light as to be properly
denominated thumb-nail sketches, merit preservation with the other writings of
this spicy and pungent author.”

... “Everybody knows Douglas Jerrold — he of the caustic humor and biting
wit; he who could write as sweetly and sunny as the most genial, and at the same
time could wield the arrows of satire as could no other English writer.”

... “A well-written and thoroughly interesting novel.”

... “Adds to its attractiveness, as a novel, the charm of elevated sentiment,
expressed in elegant and forcible English.”

... “A story of life in Kentucky some twenty or thirty years ago, and as a
picture of the life of that epoch, this book possesses great merit. It is faithful, vivid,
and spirited, without being overdone.”

... “It may be said of `Lord of Himself,' that it is a good story. After the
reader has gone a few pages into it, he is curious to know what is to happen in the last
chapter. It is also a full story. There is not a chapter in it which is not worth
reading.... Mr. Underwood has entertained and instructed us. He has given
us some admirable pictures of particular people, and a very life-like representation of
a society and a period.”

... “The scene of the story changes only temporarily from the neighborhood
of Beech Knoll, but the author finds there abundant variety of character and incident
to enrich the story. And of the studies of character, it ought to be said that they are
excellent. Uncle Ralph Beauchamp, the Fleemister family, Howard, the New Englander,
Adams, the Hoosier lawyer, the Wyndham family, and Miss Shelburn and the
slaves, are all careful studies in character delineation, distinctly individualized, natural
in action, and neither in faults nor virtues beyond the reasonable capacity of human
beings. Their relations to each other are distinctly defined, and they severally act
their parts as if inspired by their own proper motives.”