"It was bold to take Richelieu and his time as a subject and thus to challenge comparison with Dumas"s immortal musketeers; but the result justifies the boldness.... The plot is admirably clear and strong, the diction singularly concise and telling, and the stirring events are so managed as not to degenerate into sensationalism. Few better novels of adventure than this have ever been written."--OUTLOOK, NEW YORK.
"A wonderfully brilliant and thrilling romance.... Mr. Weyman has a positive talent for concise dramatic narration. Every phrase tells, and the characters stand out with life-like distinctness. Some of the most fascinating epochs in French history have been splendidly illuminated by his novels, which are to be reckoned among the notable successes of later nineteenth-century fiction. This story of "Under the Red Robe" is in its way one of the very best things he has done. It is ill.u.s.trated with rigor and appropriateness from twelve full-page designs by R. Caton Woodville."--BOSTON BEACON.
"It is a skillfully drawn picture of the times, drawn in simple and transparent English, and quivering with tense human feeling from the first word to the last. It is not a book that can be laid down at the middle of it. The reader once caught in its whirl can no more escape from it than a ship from the maelstrom."--PICAYUNE, NEW ORLEANS.
"The "red robe" refers to Cardinal Richelieu, in whose day the story is laid. The descriptions of his court, his judicial machinations and ministrations, his partial defeat, stand out from the book as vivid as flame against a background of snow. For the rest, the book is clever and interesting, and overflowing with heroic incident. Stanley Weyman is an author who has apparently come to stay."--CHICAGO POST.
"In this story Mr. Weyman returns to the scene of his "Gentleman of France," although his new heroes are of different mould. The book is full of adventure and characterized by a deeper study of character than its predecessor."--WASHINGTON POST.
"Mr. Weyman has quite topped his first success.... The author artfully pursues the line on which his happy initial venture was laid. We have in Berault, the hero, a more impressive Marsac; an accomplished duelist, telling the tale of his own adventures, he first repels and finally attracts us. He is at once the tool of Richelieu, and a man of honor.
Here is a noteworthy romance, full of thrilling incident set down by a master-hand."--PHILADELPHIA PRESS.
THE RED c.o.c.kADE.
A NOVEL OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN,
AUTHOR OF "A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE," "UNDER THE RED ROBE," "THE HOUSE OF THE WOLF," "MY LADY ROTHA," ETC.
With 48 Ill.u.s.trations by R. Caton Woodville. Crown 8vo, Cloth, ornamental, $1.50.
"Deserves a place among the best historical fiction of the latter part of this century. The gradual maddening of the people by agitators, the rising of those who have revenges to feed, the burnings and the outrages are described in a masterly way. The attack on the castle of St. Alais, the hideous death of the steward, the looting of the great building, and the escape of the young lovers--these incidents are told in that breathless way which Weyman has made familiar in other stories. It is only when one has finished the book and has gone back to reread certain pa.s.sages that the dramatic power and the sustained pa.s.sion of these scenes are clearly felt."--SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE.
""The Red c.o.c.kade," a story of the French Revolution, shows, in the first place, careful study and deliberate, well-directed effort. Mr.
Weyman ... has caught the spirit of the times.... The book is brimful of romantic incidents. It absorbs one"s interest from the first page to the last; it depicts human character with truth, and it causes the good and brave to triumph. In a word, it is real romance."--SYRACUSE POST.
"We have in this novel a powerful but not an exaggerated study of the spirit of the high born and the low born which centuries of aristocratic tyranny and democratic suffering engendered in France. It is history which we read here, and not romance, but history which is so perfectly written, so veritable, that it blends with the romantic a.s.sociations in which it is set as naturally as the history in Shakespeare"s plays blends with the poetry which vitalizes and glorifies it."--MAIL AND EXPRESS, NEW YORK.
"It will be scarcely more than its due to say that this will always rank among Weyman"s best work. In the troublous times of 1789 in France its action is laid, and with marvellous skill the author has delineated the most striking types of men and women who made the Revolution so terrible."--NEW YORK WORLD.
""The Red c.o.c.kade" is a novel of events, instinct with the spirit of the eighteenth century and full of stirring romance. The tragic period of the French Revolution forms a frame in which to set the adventures of Adrien du Pont, Vicomte de Saux, and the part he plays in those days of peril has a full measure of dramatic interest.... Mr. Weyman has evidently studied the history of the revolution with a profound realization of its intense tragedy."--DETROIT FREE PRESS.
"The action of the story is rapid and powerful. The Vicomte"s struggle with his own prejudices, his unhappy position in regard to his friends, the perils he encounters, and the great bravery he shows in his devotion to Denise are strikingly set forth, while the historical background is made vivid and convincing--the frenzy caused by the fall of the Bastile, the attacks of the mob, the defence and strategy of the n.o.bility, all being described with dramatic skill and verisimilitude. It is a fascinating and absorbing tale, which carries the reader with it, and impresses itself upon the mind as only a novel of unusual merit and power can do."--BOSTON BEACON.
"The story gives a view of the times which is apart from the usual, and marked with a fine study of history and of human conditions and impulse on Mr. Weyman"s part. Regarding his varied and well-chosen characters one cares only to say that they are full of interest and admirably portrayed.... It is one of the most spirited stories of the hour, and one of the most delightfully freighted with suggestion."--CHICAGO INTERIOR.
"With so striking a character for his hero, it is not wonderful that Mr.
Weyman has evolved a story that for ingenuity of plot and felicity of treatment is equal to some of his best efforts.... "The Red c.o.c.kade" is one of the unmistakably strong historical romances of the season."--BOSTON HERALD.
"We are greatly mistaken if the "Red c.o.c.kade" does not take rank with the very best book that Mr. Weyman has written."--SCOTSMAN.
SOPHIA
BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN
AUTHOR OF "A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE," "UNDER THE RED ROBE," ETC.
With 12 Ill.u.s.trations by C. Hammond. Crown 8vo, cloth, ornamental, $1.50.
"Mr. Weyman"s new romance ill.u.s.trates the types and manners of fashionable London society in the year 1742. In everything that means the revival of an historical atmosphere it is skilful, and, on the whole, just. The characters also are well realized.... "Sophia" is a decidedly interesting novel.... The tale moves swiftly, hurrying on from the town to the heath, from hatred to love, from imprisonment on bread and water to diamonds ... and a dozen other things. Sophia, the heroine, is a bundle of girlish foolishness and charms. "Sophia," the book, is a bundle of more or less extraordinary episodes woven into a story in the most beguiling manner."--NEW YORK TRIBUNE, April, 1900.
"It is a good, lively, melodramatic story of love and adventure ... it is safe to say that n.o.body who reads the lively episode in the first chapter will leave the book unfinished, because there is not a moment"s break in the swift and dramatic narrative until the last page.... The dramatic sequence is nearly faultless."--TRIBUNE, CHICAGO.
"Sophia, with her mistakes, her adventures, and her final surrender; Sophia moving among the eighteenth century world of fashion at Vauxhall; Sophia flying through the country roads, pursued by an adventurer, and Sophia captured by her husband, transport one so far from this work-a-day life that the reader comes back surprised to find that this prosaic world is still here after that too-brief excursion into the realm of fancy."--NEW YORK COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.
"The gem of the book is its description of the long coach-ride made by Sophia to Sir Hervey"s home in Suss.e.x, the attempt made by highwaymen to rob her, and her adventures at the paved ford and in the house made silent by smallpox, where she took refuge. This section of the story is almost as breathless as Smollett.... In the general firmness of touch, and sureness of historic portrayal, the book deserves high praise."--BUFFALO EXPRESS.
""Sophia" contains, in its earlier part, a series of incidents that is, we believe, the most ingenious yet planned by its author.... The adventure develops and grows, the tension increases with each page, to such an extent that the hackneyed adjective, "breathless," finds an appropriate place."--NEW YORK MAIL AND EXPRESS.
""Sophia," his latest, is also one of his best. A delightful spirit of adventure hangs about the story; something interesting happens in every chapter. The admirable ease of style, the smooth and natural dialogue, the perfect adjustment of events and sequences conceal all the usual obtrusive mechanism, and hold the curiosity of the reader throughout the development of an excellent plot and genuine people."--PUBLIC LEDGER, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
"Those who read Mr. Stanley J. Weyman"s "Castle Inn" with delight, will find in his "Sophia" an equally brilliant performance, in which they are introduced to another part of the Georgian era.... Mr. Weyman knows the eighteenth century from top to bottom, and could any time be more suitable for the writer of romance?... There is only one way to define the subtle charm and distinction of this book, and that is to say that it deserves a place on the book-shelf beside those dainty volumes in which Mr. Austin Dobson has embalmed the very spirit of the period of the hoop and the patch, the coffee-house, and the sedan chair. And could Mr. Stanley Weyman ask for better company for his books than that?"--EVENING SUN, NEW YORK.
"Contains what is probably the most ingenious and exciting situation even he has ever invented."--BOOK BUYER, NEW YORK.
THE CASTLE INN.
A ROMANCE.
BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN.
AUTHOR OF "A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE," "UNDER THE RED ROBE," "SHREWSBURY,"
ETC., ETC.
With six full-page Ill.u.s.trations by Walter Appleton Clark. Crown 8vo, Cloth, ornamental, $1.50.
A tale which is full of old-world romance and adventure. It has a strong flavor of the under life in England when George the Third was young, when sign-posts served also as gibbets, when travel was by coach and highwaymen were many, when men drank deep and played high. There are plenty of stirring scenes along the way, plenty of treachery and fighting at cross-purposes which lead to intricate and dramatic situations. The heroine"s charms recall Mlle. de Cocheforet in "Under the Red Robe," and she proves herself a maid of spirit through all the mishaps which befall her. One of the most notable things about "The Castle Inn" is the way in which Mr. Weyman has caught the spirit of the age, and manages to imbue his readers with its feeling."--DETROIT FREE PRESS.
" ... In "The Castle Inn," this master of romance tells a story of the time of George III, in the third person.... A story of rapid action, with a swinging succession of moving incidents that keep the reader incessantly on the _qui vive_. It deals with human emotions with directness and thoughtfulness."--THE PRESS, PHILA., PA.