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tell it. Mr. Emerson's pen all but paints with firm and unphilistine touch." — Glasgow 

 Herald. 



" Most refreshing to be transplanted in the twinkling of an eye from Wall Street to 

 the Broads, and to let his brilliant word-painting blot out the picture of the U.S. Senate 

 in extra session." — A'ezv York " Notice." 



"The book of the season for holiday folk in this district is undoubtedly Mr. P. H. 

 Emerson's 'On English Lagoons.' . . . The amateur wherryman had the experience of 

 one of the sharpest winters of which this generation has any remembrance. Mr. Emerson 

 has developed into a man whose tastes find the analogies in the two Americans, Henry 

 Thoreau and John Burroughs. Thoreau's experiences in Walden are now paralleled by 

 our English Emerson. John Burroughs has in no case shown himself more observant of 

 bird life than has Mr. P. H. Emerson, and this book is a valuable record to the naturalist 

 record of Norfolk. . . , We have delightful miniatures worked up with the skill of which 

 the artist is master." — Norwich Mercury. 



"The anecdotes too, the yarns galore, and the merciless chaff indulged in by friend 

 and foe alike, are recounted with wonderful spirit and vigour. But more wonderful still 

 are Mr. Emerson's descriptions of nature. He has all the electric sympathy of Gilbert 

 White. No aspect of nature escapes him, with fishes as with birds he is on terms of the 

 closest intimacy, and chronicles every varying aspect of nature with the eye of a painter. 

 . . . Mr. Emerson has a fine sense of humour, and to this joyous artist the vagaries of 

 Methodism and Salvationism, with their stifling of ihe joie devivre, are peculiarly repellent, 

 . . . And on account of his breezy, healthy optimism, his keen observation of nature, and 

 his power to represent his scenes pictorially in words, his latest volume deserves a place 

 in the library of every genial student of nature." — Liverpool Post. 



"The reader who enjoys careful and minute investigation of natural phenomena, 

 records of weather and temperature, and observations of the habits of birds and fishes, 

 will find Mr. Emerson delightful." — Evening Post, Neiv York. 



" Written with a literary style and finish which is not often met with in works of this 

 class ; indeed, the ' English Lagoons ' may congratulate themselves on having induced, 

 by their homely charms, an author like Mr. Emerson to write a new book about them. 

 . . . Interspersed with many charming bits of dialogue, description, and genuine humour, 

 not mere facetiousness. The coulcur locale is excellently preserved throughout, and the 

 vigorous Scandinavian dialect of the East-Anglians rendered with great felicity. Certain 

 little bits are almost worthy the pen of a Sterne or Smollett." — Field. 



"A cosy saloon, redolent of good fare and good fellowship. . . . And few, very few, 

 could have reproduced his wanderings in such a series of breezy sketches and with so 

 much descriptive power. Of course it goes without saying, that the captain of the Maid 

 of the Mist is a Bohemian in the best sense of the word. Many a flash of humour and 

 that unconventional dash that characterises all his work." — Norfolk Neu.'s. 



" Indeed, it may be said that the very freedom of existence in the Norfolk waters has 

 developed a free and frolicsome style, which invests both men and things with freshness 

 and interest. . . . The book is thoroughly local from cover to cover, and we can promise 

 Norfolk and Norwich readers some enjoyable hours not unmixed with many a ' recollec- 

 tion,' and many a heartyj laugh over quaint characters and odd incidents." — Eastern 

 Daily Press. 



" It is a great thing to have our English lagoons described by one like Mr. Emerson. 

 . . . He has followed up his true and fine story ' A Son of the Fens,' a real prose classic, 

 by the present volume. . , . He has registered in his faithful sympathetic way the calendar 

 of nature. He has lost nothing of his often amazing power of giving the whole impression 

 of a complex scene by a few sure, light, crisp touches, and his mastery of phrase and 

 exactness of memory seem to increase by use. The book abounds with idylls as simple 

 and true as a good Greek epigram. There is something fresh or good in almost every 

 page. . . . Nor are the human bits less characteristic. . . . There is something of 

 Melville's peculiar attractiveness and gift of presentment without his fantasy and occa- 

 sional bombast. ' Jim ' is as complete a character as could be painted ; his individuality 

 is revealed by every utterance. . . . The tiny ' processes ' from his photographs are 

 charming, though we could have wished some of them were bigger, but in spite of reduc- 

 tion they possess the happy Whistlerian grace that distinguishes Mr. Emerson's ' sun- 

 work.' There is a Venetian colour about 'Old Norwich,' 'End of the Storm,' and 

 * Geldeston Lock,' all admirable compositions, and ' Reed and Alder Swamps' is a little 

 gem of a picture with a pathos that is haunting. Since Borrow and Constable there has 

 not arisen to celebrate East Anglia in all her phases of life, in all her natural aspects, any 

 man with the power, the skill, the forceful exactness, the sympathy that are possessed 

 by the author of this remarkable book." — Manchester Guardian. 



