Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 3s. 6d. SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON. BY WALTER BESANT and JAMES RICE. With a Photogravure Frontispiece. 'Mr. Besant is an enthusiast about London, and revels in its archives, its traditions, its historic associations, and its literary memories. He loves the town, not exactly as Dr. Johnson loved it, but somewhat after the manner of Leigh Hunt or Charles Dickens. He has much to say that is pleasant and picturesque about City life and municipal splendour when Whittington was Lord Mayor, and he has something also that is impressive to relate about the personal character and wise public spirit of a man who left his mark on the city of his fortunes by golden deeds of princely generosity. Whittington's own life apart altogether from the exploits of his fabled cat--was full of romance and dignity, and Mr. Besant has contrived, in these pages, to paint the civic worthy's portrait with artistic skill against the spacious background of his times.' SPEAKER. Readers interested in getting a view of the great City and its past from the biography of a single citizen will find just what they want in the life of Whittington,' GUARDIAN. A relic of the literary partnership between the two novelists (Besant and Rice), yet not itself a novel, but a biography founded, as Mr. Besant's Preface to the edition reminds us, upon a diligent study of London antiquities.-TIMES. This book is designed not only as a biography, but as one specially to instruct those interested in the history of London. It is delightfully written, and makes its hero quite as interesting in history as he is in his more familiar legendary character.' SCOTSMAN. 'It is a book that no one who loves City lore ought to dispense with,'--CITIZEN. The mark of Mr. Besant pervades every page of this pleasant and impressive record.'-LEEDS The pictures of London life read like pages from a romanc the book which make us forget at times that Mr. Besant is not spinning a story.'-STAR. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 3s. 6d. GASPARD DE COLIGNY. BY WALTER BESANT. With a Photogravure Portrait. 'This biography of the great Protestant Admiral is one of the most inspiriting historical essays a reader could turn to, whether for instruction or for the encouragement that comes of looking on a great example of a noble life.'-SCOTSMAN. The art of the novelist combined with the skill of the historian. . . . It is delightful.... Readers who were fascinated with Mr. Stanley Weyman's "A Gentleman of France" will find "Gaspard de Coligny" of special interest to them, inasmuch as the two books deal with the same stirring times from a diverse point of view.'-MORNING Leader. 'Mr. Besant has portrayed his hero with a loving touch. . . . His fascinating account of the career of so picturesque a personality as the great Admiral cannot but be welcome.'-SUN. 'We recommend this little volume as recording a life which has the strongest claims on our sympathy and admiration.'-SPECTATOR. "Coligny's career is not only full of interest in itself, but is of great historical importance. . . Mr. Besant has consulted every possible authority concerning the character and deeds of Coligny, and the result of his labour is a volume from which the reader may in an hour or two acquire in the pleasantest way a great deal of knowledge concerning one of the most stirring times of history, and one of its principal figures.'-SATURDAY REVIEW. Coligny wou distinction as an admiral and general, but it is as one of the great leaders of the Huguenots that he will be remembered. Of his grand efforts in the cause of Protestantism in France a most interesting account is given.'-DAILY CHRONICLE. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 5s. FIFTY YEARS AGO. BY WALTER BESANT. With 144 Plates and Woodcuts. "An admirable picture of the manners and customs of our fathers and grandfathers. It is strange, indeed, to come upon an annalist with a knowledge of human nature and a sense of humour, and we sometimes almost forget that he is writing annals.'-JAMES PAYN, in the ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS. "Fifty Years Ago" is not a novel, but it is doing it but scanty justice to say that it is more amusing than many novels. . . . The book is enriched with a very interesting and complete series of portraits.'-SATURDAY REVIEW. 'Mr. Besant's handsome volume, apart from its value as a vivid picture of men and manners, is as entertaining almost as one of the author's novels The illustrations are a very important part of the work. The sketches published at the time have been faithfully reproduced.' — MANCHESTER EXAMINER. A series of entertaining chapters, to which the droll illustrations of George Cruikshank and the inimitable portraits by Daniel Maclise lend additional effect. . . . The book is full of movement and colour, and presents a vivid and interesting picture of the great reign.'-SPEAKER. Mr. Besant has accomplished a very worthy task. He gives us a picture of the country instinct with life and glowing with colour. In his pages our grandfathers and grandmothers, with all their faults and virtues, pass before us in "their habits as they moved." Mr. Besant is a capital guide. ....... We are grateful to him for the charming entertainment.'--DAILY CHRONICLE. London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 214 Piccadilly, W. DA 685 W5 355 POPULAR EDITION. Demy 8vo. cloth extra, 7s. 6d. LONDON. BY WALTER BESANT. 'What the late J. R. Green has done for England Mr. Besant has here attempted, with conspicuous success, for Cockaigne. The author of "A Short History of the English People" and the historian of the London citizen share together the true secret of popularity. Both have placed before the people of to-day a series of vivid and indelible pictures of the people of the past. loves his London but will love it the better for reading this book. No one who a clear duty and a manifest pleasure.'-GRAPHIC. He who loves it not has before him 'The author has dealt with ail sorts and conditions of men that have in successive well-marked generations trodden its streets and lived its life. For such a record the materials are abundant, and Mr. Besant has made good use of them. DAILY TELEGRAPH. His work ought to be a welcome addition to every library. 'A charming volume, adorned with many exquisite il'ustrations. In a series of pictures Mr. Besant unrolls before our eyes the panorama of a living London in the ages that are past. the people at their daily toil and at their amusements. their social habits. We walk about their streets and examine their houses. and growth of their city, and the changes in their habits. We are acquainted with their customs and We see history with living and fascinating interest. in Besant's "London."'-MORNING LEADER. We watch the evolution Mr. Besant has clothed the dry bones of ... Written in a graphic style, there is not a dull page The A series of charming pictures of the City of London and its people from age to age. . . . dry bones of ancient chroniclers, the forgotten learning of forgotten students, old tracts and stray household accounts, live again with valuable significance in the brightness and freshness of the page. of "London.' do not begin and finish it for themselves with avidity.'-DAILY CHRONICLE. We shall have in vain exposed the nature of Mr. Besant's volume if our readers London found inspiration. His style marches with his narrative, his narrative is worthy of the events it is as good as a novel--better than many. records.'-YORKSHIRE POST. It is a romance in which the writer has 'A book on London by Walter Besant must surely recommend itself sufficiently to all readers by its title and the name of its author. to age, by an artist of rare skill in applying his camera and developing the latent details of his It is a series of instantaneous photographs, taken from age plate. Altogether the book deserves a cordial welcome from all who take an intelligent interest in the London life of the past.'-TIMES. As everybody is aware, Mr. Besant knows and loves his London. He is as devoted a student of London as Dickens himself ever was. equalled by few.. ransacked medieval, Tudor, and subsequent literature and art for his materials. In his researches His book is a kind of London "At Home" during thirteen centuries. He has In historic knowledge of London Mr. Besant is, we imagine, he has made some absolutely new discoveries, among which not the least interesting is a collection of household accounts.'-ECHO. 'Mr. Besant writes history as Thackeray wrote the chronicles of the Four Georges. The result is a series of charming sketches penned with all the picturesqueness of an author who has laid so many of his scenes in London town. . . . one. STANDARD. The book is a valuable as well as an eminently readable 'Mr. Besant could scarcely be dull if he tried, and in these pages he certainly has not made the attempt. The art of the novelist is conspicuous in the book, and the narrative at every turn conveys a realistic impression of places and people, manners and movements, which long ago waxed old and vanished away. '-LEEDS MERCURY. 'Mr. Besant has written a book in his sagest and brightest vein on the history of London. He goes up and down the centuries in a delightfully good humour, responding to Thackeray's famous appeal to the Muse of History not to take herself so seriously, but to show us the common life of every age.... popular.-MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. Mr. Besant writes graphically and with good sense, and the volume deserves to be A brilliant series of pictures. There does not seem to be a single false note, and the amount both of hard reading and of personal Nothing so vivid has ever before been done about old London. topographical observation necessary to its composition must have been enormous. us just so much that we wish he had given us more. reading.'-SATURDAY REVIEW. The novelist turned historian is delightful Mr. Besant gives Mr. Besant knows and loves his London thoroughly, and his beautifully illustrated book will call up in the minds of those who bow to the spell a thousand delights of memory and expectation. Mr. Besant contrives not merely to call back the old London, but to make the London of the present more living than before.'-SPECTATOR. Mr. Besant has given us a delightful book. . . . Here is a fascinating catalogue, and Mr. Besant comes up to his catalogue with all the picturesque skill and conscientious learning which the public have learned to expect from him. without it.'--SUN. No Londoner who takes an interest in his city can afford to be A volume which every Londoner should read. It is at once instructive and entertaining. Mr. Besant has never written anything more absorbing and delightful than this description of London.'- GLOBE. 'Mr. Besant has invested all his chapters with the charm of a novel, and his seems to be the most successful attempt that has yet been made to picture old London in flesh and blood rather than in parchment and masonry.' CITIZEN. and 'Mr. Besant has given us in this delightful volume the romance of London-with an accuracy a care for truthful detail as conspicuous as they are in Maitland or in Stow himself.'-NATIONAL OBSERVER. A few copies of the LIBRARY EDITION may still be had, demy Evo. cloth gilt, gilt top, price 18s. London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 214 Piccadilly, W. |
