University of Virginia Library

“Suffice it to say that Calavar throughout is a romance of very great interest.
It will interest the imaginative from its spirited and stirring scenes
of battle and blood; it will please the poetic from the splendour and beauty
of its descriptions, and it will charm every lover of fiction by the masterly
and graphic scenes which it will continually present to him.”

“We shall be exceedingly mistaken if the work does not at once place the
author in the very highest rank among the writers of America.”

“It cannot fail to strike the reading public with astonishment and delight.”

“The precise epithet by which to designate the style of this novel, is one
which very few writers have deserved—it is masterly.”

“Creditable to American genius and literary power.”

“Few productions have afforded us greater pleasure than this; and few
works seem to us so deserving of popularity as the romance whose merits
we have now recommended not too forcibly on our readers.”

“The work may fairly rank among the highest efforts of genius, and we
do not scruple to pronounce it superior to anything of the kind which has
yet emanated from the American press.”

“But there is nothing of all this to be found in Calavar—not a premonitory
symptom of blank verse, nor a spasm of poetic phrenzy; on the contrary,
the whole tone of the composition is subdued, chastened, and thoroughly
elaborated—evincing with the fervour of genius, the good taste of an
elegant mind, and the patient labour of a highly accomplished intellect.”

“We have read these volumes through with unwavering interest,—they
evince power of a high order and thorough preparation of the work undertaken.

“They embody the very spirit of the times, in which the story is laid, and
reproduce the men and the scenes as though they were living before our
eyes.”

“We have read Dr. Bird's new romance with very great pleasure, and a
large increase to our previously conceived opinion of his talent. It is a
grand, spirit-stirring work—rich in vigour, interest and excitement; and
one moreover, that will not pass away and be forgotten.”

“Those who have not yet had an opportunity of reading the new novel of
the Infidel, by Dr. Bird, may be envied by those who have had the pleasure
of perusing the graphic and spirit-stirring scenes it contains. We have
too little space at our disposal to-day to speak of it at any length, or do
more than recommend it as superior even to Calavar, which is already
stamped with the highest public approbation.”