SOURCE: A review of Altiora Peto, in The Academy, Vol. XXIV, No. 597, October 13, 1883, p. 240.

In the following excerpt, Purcell denigrates Oliphant's portrayal of American and European society in Altiora Peto.

Piccadilly had just enough of sketchy carelessness and improbability to pass for originality, and to lead many people into thinking that the author could do much greater things if he liked. How far Aitiora Peto has complicated or dispelled this notion it is impossible to say, though it is said to have been favourably received. We are, therefore, the more bound to confess at once that we have found it entirely dull and uninteresting, both in detail and as a whole.