"Mr. Pennell's 'Puck' is gay, rattling, and really clever, something in the Bon Gaultier style... full of fun... very smart."
"An admirable drawing-room tablebrochure, and is certain to have a run."
"No one will be wearied with these verses.... We have seldom seen a book more completely suitable to a drawing-room table. Mr. Pennell has avoided Puck's sometimes offensive characteristic."
"Mr. Pennell's 1 Puck on Pegasus' is one of the most amusing books of verse that we have fallen in with for many a day."
"... There is a high talent inThe Thread of Life, showing that Mr. Pennell can do much finer work whenever he may desire to soar above mere trifling."
"Mr. Pennell writes so well that we wish he would take the trouble to write better. He possesses humour and the 'fatal facility' of rhyming.... TheNight Mail Northand the Derby Day are the two best poems."
"Easy running verses, the music of which is as sweet as their rhymes are ingenious and unexpected."
"This is certainly one of the cleverest productions of the day, and gives the clearest evidence of the genius of its author in almost every page."
"...The popularity the work has already obtained, serves to show that the author's desi res have been crowned with success."
"Mr. Pennell has caught the spirit, as well as the style, of the different poets he imitates, while his lines have an elegance, mid a sly bo-peep sort of beauty.... The nick-names and mock climax in the song ofIn-the— Water, are in their way inimitable imitations.... The Author, however, gives proofs of far higher powers than those of mimicry."