The Pentameron And Other Imaginary Conversations (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

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Excerpt from The Pentameron: And Other Imaginary Conversations
The Pentameron and a selection of comparatively late Imaginary Conversations (reprinted without any omissions from the edition of 1846) are here brought together. The Pentameron belongs to the remarkable triad of books which Landor produced between 1834 and 1837, the others being The Citation and Examination of William Shakespeare for Deer-stealing, and the Pericles and Aspasia.
These three books vary much both in character and quality. The Examination of William Shakespeare is a failure, or, certainly, the nearest approach to a failure in any of Landor's longer writings. It is written with care; there is a certain stolid unity about it which is impressive when it is looked at as a whole, but at scarcely more than one or two points can we hear Landor's true voice. Sir Thomas Lucy is a portentous Justice Shallow; Master Silas the Chaplain and Ephraim the Clerk are alike dreary and silly; while the youthful Shakespeare shows little promise of those eminent abilities which have since attracted so much attention. In painting the humors of a rich and massive nature, a Montaigne or a Person, Landor was incomparable; he had not the light hand which is needed to paint the humors of a fool.