On 1 May 1937, the editors of the Times Literary Supplement used the occasion of the centenary of Victoria's accession and the coronation of her great-grandson George VI to celebrate "some of the literary accomplishments of the hundred years." James Anthony Froude, the Victorian novelist, historian, biographer, editor, and man of letters was one of several writers considered important enough to merit review. Although the reviewer introduced his subject in a backhanded way--Froude's rival William Stubbs had "wisdom," his incessant critic Edward A. Freeman had "scholarship"--the TLS writer concluded that Froude had so powerful a narrative style that few, if any, of his contemporaries could surpass him: "pages and sentences [of his prose] set forth power and endurance and suffering in eternal vibration, or hang in the air like chiming bells." It would be difficult to quarrel with such praise--even Froude's detractors agreed that his prose was unusually distinctive...