A writer in the _Literary World_, in some admirable remarks upon this
story, is, as far as I know, the only critic who has dwelt upon the
extraordinary character of 'Philip Aylwin.' He says:
'The melancholy, the spiritual isolation, and the passionate love of
this master-mystic for his dead wife are so finely rendered that the
reader's sympathies go out at once to this most pathetic and lonely
figure....It would be difficult for any sensitive man or woman to
follow Philip Aylwin's story as related by his son without the
tribute of aching heart and scalding tears. To our thinking, the
man's sanity is more moving, more supremely tragic, than even the
madness of Winifred, which is the culminating tragedy of the book.'
I must say that I agree with this writer in thinking 'Philip Aylwin'
to be the most impressive character in the story. The most remarkable
feature of the novel, indeed, is that, although 'Philip Aylwin'
disappears from the scene so early, his opinions, his character, and
his dreams are cast so entirely over the book from beginning to end
that the novel might have been called _Philip Aylwin_.
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