Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Book and heart: essays on literature and life

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Chapter 10: Favorites of a day

“Criticism on English writers,” wrote Edward Fitzgerald to Mrs. Kemble, “is likely to be more impartial across the Atlantic and not biased by clubs, coteries, etc.” True as this is, the fact must also be borne in mind that the American critic is always limited by knowing that what he writes will probably not be read in England, and therefore will not reach the persons most concerned. It is not strange if the English author judges America by his balance-sheet, since it is his only point of contact with our readers. The late Mr. Du Maurier had reason to think well of a public that yielded him $50,000; and though it was freely declared here that his style was meretricious, his theme dubious, his title borrowed from Nodier, his group of three Englishmen from Dumas, and his heroine, pretty feet and all, from Delvaux's Les Amours