Arkansas State Gazette And Democrat

Festus.—The author of this magnificent poem, the greatest, despite its faults, in grandeur of imagination, brilliancy of imagery, and originality of speculation, since Milton's “Paradise Lost,” is Phillip James Bailey, the son of the proprietor of the Nottingham (Eng.) Mercury. The editorial department of that paper is conducted by the poet. The writer of a letter to the New York Tribune has recently seen him, and says: “He is a heavy, thick set sort of man, of a stature below the middle size, complexion dark, and in years about eight and thirty. His physiognomy would be clownish in expression, if his eyes did not redeem his other features. He spoke of “Festus,” and of its fame in America, of which he seemed very proud. In England it has only reached the third edition, while eight or nine have been published in the States.”