Lucian the Dreamer by J.S. Fletcher

On a certain Monday morning in the following November, Lucian's great epic was published to the trade and the world, and the leading newspapers devoted a good deal of their space to remarking upon its merits, its demerits, and its exact relation to literature. Lucian found a pile of the London morning dailies of the superior sort awaiting his attention when he descended to his breakfast-room, and he went through them systematically. When he had made an end of them he looked across the table at Haidee, and he smiled in what she thought a rather queer way.

‘I say, Haidee! ' he exclaimed, ‘these reviews are -- well, they're not very flattering. There are six mighty voices of the press here, -- _Times_, _Telegraph_, _Post_, _News_, _Chronicle_, and _Standard_ -- and there appears to be a strange unanimity of opinion in their pronunciations. The epic poem seems to be at something of a discount.'