of the kind that we have ever seen.... Puck, as he careers through the
world on his mad horse, shoots arrows of the pleasantest raillery,
dipped in Eau de Cologne rather than gall, at the follies of the season,
the artistic foibles of literary celebrities, and the affectations of
all classes, high and low. The wee, mocking urchin indites a sonnet in
the style of Martin Tupper, mimics Mrs. Browning, trills a song of _In-
the-water_ after the fashion of Longfellow; and, with the aid of a black
cat, stirs up 'a shocking sort of knocking at your chamber door,' that
reminds the beating heart of Edgar Poe. He induces Tennyson to write the
_Charge of the Light (Irish) Brigade_ and gives us a lay of _The Fight
for the Championship_ by Lord Macaulay. Some of the youngster's capers
are certainly unjustifiable; but extravagant mirth is never severely
judged when it expresses itself in easy running verses, the music of
which is as sweet as their rhymes are ingenious and unexpected.
Moreover, though Mr. Pennell's muse respects neither the age nor fame of
those whom he satirises, he never forgets gentlemanly con--sideration
for the feelings of his readers. A joke that would bring a blush to a
maiden's cheek, or a sarcasm aimed at the inoffensive, are not to be
found in his poems. Nor do we draw attention to the prevailing lightness
of his muse in a spirit of condemnation, but rather of regret that the
fine feeling and pathetic force manifested in the treatment of his two
finest pieces/ the _Night Mail North_, and the _Derby_ should have
inspired him less frequently than mere gaiety of heart.... The rhythm
and rugged swing of the _Night Mail North_, will give the reader a taste
of Mr. Pennell's higher qualities."
SATURDAY REVIEW.
"---- Mr. Pennell's parodies and imitations are certainly above the
average; they are at times, it is true, somewhat unequal, but there is a
good deal of vigorous and healthy versification scattered throughout the
volume."... "He has, moreover, studied with considerable advantage what
is vulgarly termed the art of 'selling,' more properly described as a
species of bathos. Barham, of the _Ingoldsby Legends_, as well as Hood
and Bon
Gualtier, excelled greatly in this. Such pieces usually give scope for
some pretty writing at their commencement, which the reader may accept
seriously or ironically as he should feel disposed. The absurdity or
satire is condensed generally into the last one or two lines. Mr.
Pennell's stanzas headed _Ah / Who_, are among his most neat and amusing
efforts of this character."... "No doubt the works of Hood have
exercised a con--siderable influence on Mr. Pennell's versification; and
in this school he may be fairly considered to have enrolled himself.
"The _Derby Day_ is one of the most spirited sketches in this volume.
The first three lines of our extract are excellent in their way, and
have a fine healthy _élan_ about them. The absence of the word 'trump'
would render them eligible for quotation in much higher poetical
company. The next verse, of a decidedly lower order, may still be given
as a very fair reproduction of Hood's peculiar style and humour. Our
author is telling how thé Derby favourite breaks his neck in the race:--
'He fell like a trump in the foremost
place--
He died with the rushing wind on his
face--
At the wildest bound of his glorious
pace--
In the mad exulting revel
He left his shoes to his son and heir,
His hocks to a champagne-dealer at Ware,
A lock of his hair
To the Lady-Mare,
And his hoofs and his tail to the----!
"There are also to be found some prettyish bits of descriptive verse, of
which the following may be quoted, from the so-called song of
_In-the-Water_ with Longfellow's metre preserved:--
'Down into the water stept she,
Down into the tranquil nver,
Like a red deer in the sunset--
Like a ripe leaf in the autumn!
Ever from her lips of coral,
From her lips like roses snow-flll'd,
Came a soft and dreamy murmur,
Softer than the murm'ring river!
Sighs that melted as the snows melt,
Silently and sweetly melted.'
"We should advise Mr. Pennell, on the first available occasion, to
disem--barrass himself here of the stock-in-trade 'lips of coral.' This
passage would be materially improved by the omission. Again, in the
_Night Mail North_, our author seems at home in his subject, and writes
with considerable effect
"Tis a splendid race I a race against
Time,--
'The quivering carriages rock and reel,
Hurrah! for the rush of the grinding
steel!
And a thousand to one we win it.
Look at those flitting ghosts--
The thundering crank, and the mighty
The white-arm'd finger-posts-- wheel!--'
If we're moving the eighth of an inch, Isay,
We're going a mile a minute!...'
"The last line but one is powerful enough, and the best in the extract.
There is plenty of poetry in railways and steam engines; and now that
other mines of inspiration are growing somewhat exhausted, we cannot see
why a new shaft should not be run in this direction. Many of our readers
may find, besides these extracts, much that is clever and amusing in
'Puck on Pegasus.'"
"To be funny without being vulgar, to tell a story with gestures and yet
not become a buffoon, to parody a poet and yet retain the flavour of his
real poetry, to turn all the finest feelings of the heart into fun, and
yet not to be coarse or unfeeling, is not granted by Apollo to every
writer of humorous poems."... "Mr. Pennell is an excellent parodyist, an
ingenious punster, a reviver and modifier of existing systems of fun, a
vigorous worker of veins of humour not yet carried for enough."... "Of
all the poems, we like best the _Night Mail North_, which has a singular
weird power about it that takes a hold on the imagination.... _Lord
Jolly Green's Courtship_ is a well-written parody on a well-known poem
of Mrs. Browning. Next best is, perhaps, the _Sayers and Heenan Fight_,
a very vigorous imitation of Lord Macaulay's _Coman Ballads._ There is a
great rush and gallop about the _Derby Day_; the lines at the end are-
not unworthy of Hood's playful thoughtfulness."
EXAMINER.
"There is, without doubt, a good deal of humorous verse in this gaily
got up and cleverly illustrated volume.... But there are better things
than slang versides in Mr. Pennell's book, and more striking lines than
those which are printed in black letters. The _Derby Day_ offers a
favourable example of a popular subject well treated, in which the scene
is vividly and often poetically depicted. The _Fight for the
Championship_, written in imitation of Lord Macaulay's _Horatius_, is
also very well done.... The measure of the author's power may, however,
be taken from the poem emtitled _The Night Mail North_, one of the best
things the book contains..... Let Mr. Pennell trust to the original
strength that is in him, and he may bestride his 'Pegasus' without
fear."
FRASER'S MAGAZINE.
"When a gentleman means to be absurd, and at the same time can support
his pretensions to amuse his readers with cleverness, we know how to
accost him. 'Puck on Pegasus' is full of those eccentricities which make
one laugh in spite of oneself, or in unison with oneself, according as
one takes it up in a grave or a gay humour. It reminds one of the _Bon
Gaultier Ballads_ of some years ago.... The illustrations are capital,
as they were likely to be considering whose they are."
ILLUSTRATED NEWS OF THE WORLD.
"Mr. Pennell's 'Puck' is gay, rattling, and really clever, something in
the Bon Gaultier style... full of fun... very smart."
BELL'S LIFE.
"An admirable drawing-room table _brochure_, and is certain to have a
run."
ARMY AND NAYY GAZETTE.
"No one will be wearied with these verses.... We have seldom seen a book
more completely suitable to a drawing-room table. Mr. Pennell has
avoided Puck's sometimes offensive characteristic."
WELDON'S REGISTER.
"Mr. Pennell's 1 Puck on Pegasus' is one of the most amusing books of
verse that we have fallen in with for many a day."
MANCHESTER EXAMINER.
"... There is a high talent in _The Thread of Life_, showing that Mr.
Pennell can do much finer work whenever he may desire to soar above mere
trifling."
PRESS.
"Mr. Pennell writes so well that we wish he would take the trouble to
write better. He possesses humour and the 'fatal facility' of rhyming....
The _Night Mail North_ and the Derby Day are the two best poems."
ST. JAMES'S CHRONICLE.
"Easy running verses, the music of which is as sweet as their rhymes are
ingenious and unexpected."
COURT CIRCULAR.
"This is certainly one of the cleverest productions of the day, and gives
the clearest evidence of the genius of its author in almost every page."
LONDON REVIEW.
"...The popularity the work has already obtained, serves to show that
the author's desi res have been crowned with success."
ORIENTAL BUDGET.
"Mr. Pennell has caught the spirit, as well as the style, of the different
poets he imitates, while his lines have an elegance, mid a sly bo-peep sort
of beauty.... The nick-names and mock climax in the song of _In-the--
Water_, are in their way inimitable imitations.... The Author, however,
gives proofs of far higher powers than those of mimicry."
End of Project Gutenberg's Puck on Pegasus, by H. Cholmondeley Pennell