"'Once upon a Time.' This familiar nursery phrase is employed here to designate a collection of miscellaneous papers of various length, having only this in common, that they all refer to the olden time, from the wars of the Roses, down to the days of Queen Charlotte and Fanny Burney. They relate to all manner of topics—old folks, old manners, old books; they present us with a mass of curious facts, tricked out here and there with pleasant and plausible fiction; and, take them all in all, they make up as charming a pair of volumes as we have seen for many a long day."—Fraser's Magazine. "'Once upon a Time' is worth possessing."—Examiner. "This varied, pleasant, and, what is not always the case, informing collection of Essays, is in part a selection from the writings of a man who has done more to popularise literature than perhaps any other man of the day. The volumes consist of a number of notices illustrative of manners or archÆology, arranged in chronological order."—Spectator. "Mr. Charles Knight's entertaining little work 'Once upon a Time' is full of various knowledge agreeably told."—Quarterly Review. "This pleasant gallery of popular antiquarianism, alternately making our heart yearn upon the good times that are gone never to return, and causing us to wonder and to rejoice at the mighty strides the world has made in the road of improvement."—John Bull. JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. LONDON: |
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