Part 22

* * * * *

“Miss Macleod is a Celt of the Celts; her theme is the ancient trouble of her race.... She appeals to a little clan of her own, to whom the wild bees of the spirit come, as secret wings in the dark, with the sound and breath of forgotten things. To that clan The Winged Destiny will be more than welcome. It shows in abundance all the writer’s usual qualities of charm and manner.... Criticism bends before the magic glamour of the north, where the sea foam is white and the skies are dark with cloud and wind. The land of the Gael is something rare and apart; and rare and apart, judge it as you will, is the art of Fiona Macleod.”--The Glasgow Herald.

* * * * *

“What I admire in the work of Miss Fiona Macleod is her infinite sympathy for all that is beautiful, either in what we usually call inanimate nature, or in the deeds and words of men. She too--and this is no mean compliment--respects her own gift, and bestows it royally.”--Country Life.

* * * * *

“‘There is no mystery in them, or anywhere, except the eternal mystery of beauty’--and Miss Macleod certainly possesses the master key to the heart of that mystery.”--The Daily Chronicle.

* * * * *

“Miss Macleod persuades one more than ever that she is the possessor of that rare and precious thing, genius.... Her work has energy, passion, beauty, and sweetness.”--The National Observer.

* * * * *

“‘J’avais le sentiment de l’infini et de l’éternel et de là mes sourires pour les choses qui passent. Mais l’Esprit ne passe point.’ Cette belle phrase de Renan s’applique assez exactment à l’auteur de The Winged Destiny, Miss Fiona Macleod. Ce livre qui s’est ‘dressé comme un fantôme hors des bois hautés’ a le charme indicible des précédents œuvres de cet auteur. Miss Macleod a quelque chose de visionnaire et d’indéfini, d’étrangement mélancolique, de profondément émouvant.... Tout cela, c’est bien ‘le rêve de la vie vue en beauté,’ et voir les choses dans leur beauté c’est les voir dans leur vérité, comme l’a dit Matthew Arnold.”--Le Mercure de France.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation errors have been fixed.

A couple of instances of repeated words have been fixed.

Page 58: “dear and familar to us” changed to “dear and familiar to us”

Page 225: “French poet or romancist” changed to “French poet or romanticist”

Page 344: “to enchance its beauty” changed to “to enhance its beauty”