Author: Dacre, Charlotte [Charlotte King][ (b. 1782)
Title: Tales of Helicon
Date: 1798
Contemporary Reviews of this Volume
Monthly Mirror, Vol. 21, June 1806, pp. 392-393.
Hours of Solitude. A Collection of Original Poems, now first published. By Charlotte Dacre, better known by the Name of Rosa Matilda. 2 Vols. 14s. Hughes. 1806.
Miss Dacre, alias Rosa, is “better known by” being of the Della Cruscan school, than by having composed any copy of verses much above mediocrity. These “now first published,” are a piece of the same stuff, and the public mind is so made up with respect to its quality, that those who approved of her manufactory before, will continue to approve of it, while those (“a mighty host”) who disapproved of it, will not, by any thing we can say, be induced to change their opinion. If we had been consulted – but, alas! authors never come to us till they have done wrong, and require whipping. If this fair Rosa had enquired our sentiments on the business, we should have recommended to her, after Mr. Gifford’s trimming, to have kept all the future disclosures of her Muse, in the “hours of solitude” and secrecy, sub rosa.
Monthly Mirror, Vol. 21, June 1806, pp. 392-393.
Hours of Solitude. A Collection of Original Poems, now first published. By Charlotte Dacre, better known by the Name of Rosa Matilda. 2 Vols. 14s. Hughes. 1806.
Miss Dacre, alias Rosa, is “better known by” being of the Della Cruscan school, than by having composed any copy of verses much above mediocrity. These “now first published,” are a piece of the same stuff, and the public mind is so made up with respect to its quality, that those who approved of her manufactory before, will continue to approve of it, while those (“a mighty host”) who disapproved of it, will not, by any thing we can say, be induced to change their opinion. If we had been consulted – but, alas! authors never come to us till they have done wrong, and require whipping. If this fair Rosa had enquired our sentiments on the business, we should have recommended to her, after Mr. Gifford’s trimming, to have kept all the future disclosures of her Muse, in the “hours of solitude” and secrecy, sub rosa.
Poetical Register, Vol. 6, 1806, pp. 508.
Hours of Solitude. A Collection of original Poems, now first published. By Charlotte Dacre; better known by the Name of Rosa Matilda. Small 8vo. 2 Vols. pp. 276.
Rosa Matilda has some imagination, some command of language, and some talent for rhyming and versifying, but she is, at present, lamentably deficient in taste and judgement. She would, we think, have acted more wisely had she excluded from her collection nearly one half of her poems, and bestowed on the remainder a careful revision. It is quality, not quantity, that gains the poetical crown.
Monthly Magazine, Vol. 7, 20 July 1779, pp. 542.
The Libertine has more of the romance in it than of the novel: it abounds with the most horrible of horrors. The author, however, has a fertile imagination, and gives evident proofs of a capability to write something which may do him more credit.
Prepared by Alexandria Ahlers-Prince, University of Nebraska, Spring 2018
© Alexandria Ahlers-Prince, 2018