"'LOVE LETTERS OF A VIOLINIST.'--Letters to make the ordinary writer
envious, and to awaken in lovers thanks to the poetical pen that has
given forth utterances so suited to their good health or malady. Here a
verse to cheer the almost hopeless; a stanza to teach the refraining a
lesson in charge and capture; lines to fall in love with the memory, to
charm the darkness, and be another light to rule the day. London was
yawning behind her giant hand. The moment was propitious, and any strain
of beauty was sure of an audience. At this felicitous moment a pipe of
splendour sounded. London ceased to yawn. A violinist was communicating
the passions of his heart to those who would listen, and amid great
interest he went from house to house a-singing.... Eric Mackay is one of
those wise men who have no immature volumes to haunt them. He first
asked right of way on the road to Parnassus with a bundle of melodies
which have never lost their appeal. While youth seeks the pink cheek,
these Love Letters will command the homage of lovers. Your Petrarchs are
not as common as sparrows.... These outpourings from a burning heart
will always compel the student of our literature to weigh them, sift
them, and establish them in some very honourable position. The charm of
this early book is its freedom from drag. It moves on always. The reader
is hastened along; he has wonderful and unexpected views, which ravish
him as the abrupt magnificences of the Pyrenees ravished Gautier.
Perhaps you expect a tree, but you see a stream. Now, at last, it must
be a great green hill, and behold! you peep down into an echoless mossy
depth of glen. At the next break in the quick, up towers a height of
fancy and simile! Thus the everlasting surprise goes on enchanting. From
wild to wild, from passion to passion, from cavern to star, are we
borne, and as we travel there is music about us--music of the true tone,
ringing with all the natural pathos of lyrical carelessness. There have
been instances in literature of the music mastering the thought, but in
the case under notice the proportions are justly ministered to. There is
thought and witchery of measure. The ice of craftsmanship is mingled
with the wine of passion."--NORMAN GALE, in _The Literary World_, March
10th, 1893.
* * * * *
"We are indebted to Eric Mackay for the latest ode to the lark, one of
peculiar gracefulness and impassioned beauty. In my opinion, this is a
better production than either of Wordsworth's, superior to Hogg's, and,
though not so intellectual as Shelley's, rivals it in truth. Mackay's is
the lark itself, Shelley's is himself listening, with unwearied ears and
tightly-stretched imagination, to the lark. Who is surprised that Eric
Mackay's lyric, 'The Waking of the Lark,' sent a thrill through the
heart of America? This poem, which appeared in the _New York
Independent_, is undoubtedly the lark-poem of the future. From the
opening to the closing stanza there is not an imperfect verse, not a
commonplace. The sentiment is pure, and the fancy glowing. It is,
indeed, an exquisite ode."--_Wintringham's_ "_Birds of Wordsworth._"
Edition, 1892.
* * * * *
"He (the lecturer) ventured to call the author of the 'Love Letters' a
new poet. His published volume is a work of immense promise. His fancy
is splendid.... The 'Love Letters' are twelve poems, separate, and yet
intrinsically one. It is a compound lyric, with an epic theme and
somewhat of an epic cast. The theme is the triumph of woman's love. It
is the story of love's redemption. It has something of the tone, colour,
and luxuriance of Solomon's Song; both, too, have the same theme,
though treated in a different way.... The form is charming--as if the
sonatas of Beethoven had been translated into poetry! The _denouement_
is reached when Beethoven himself--
'The giant-singer who did storm the gates
Of Heaven and Hell'--
is introduced in a vision. The lecturer gave a number of quotations to
illustrate his points."--_Lecture on_ ERIC MACKAY, _by the Rev. Elvet
Lewis, at the Hull Literary Institute._
* * * * *
"The 'Love Letters' of Eric Mackay are the handiwork of a brilliant
metrical artist and poet born.... A beautiful and passionate work; its
beauty that of construction, language, imagery,--its passion,
characteristic of the artistic nature, and, while intensely human, free
from any taint of vulgar coarseness.... The poem is quite original, its
manner Elizabethan.... Eric Mackay is a lyrist with a singing faculty
and a novel metrical form such as few lyrists have at command. With the
very striking poem of 'Mary Arden,' we have at last something new said
of Shakespeare, and it is said sweetly and imaginatively."--E. C.
STEDMAN, in "_Victorian Poets_," 21st Edition, 1893.
Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note, whilst
significant amendments have been listed below.
P. 10, 'ecstacies' amended to _ecstasies_.
P. 19, 'langours' amended to _languors_.