“ IF the year that is past brought no other cause for rejoicing, at least it discovered for us the man who wrote that ripping piratical blood-boltered ballad "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest." I do not refer merely to the original gruesome quatrain quoted in Robert Louis's "Treasure Island"—
Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—
⁠Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! ”

“ Indeed fame seems to have made a special provision for carrying the monopoematic genius, as a search of the anthologies will readily disclose. In its peculiar class Allison's poem is as memorable as Poe's "Raven"—and I can see him still steering that sullen "Derelict" of his upon future seas not a wave of which will be hazarded by many admired literary cockboats of the present time. ”

“ Allison's claim to the parentage of the truculent chef d'oeuvre so long disputed about and errantly fathered, and also raises the wonder that he should have been content with having once miraculously centred the bullseye of literary achievement. However, according to a famous French critic, the man who produces only one masterpiece,—be it only a single page of perfect prose or verse,—has a better chance of future fame than the author of many volumes indifferently good. ”