The Press.
London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

are glanced at ; but we find no account of the
old modes of conveyance, the waggons from
the primitive inn-yards, the lumbering chariots,
and the Flemish barbs. _ _

We might easily point out a variety of similar
points upon which the volume is deficient;
our object, however, is not to exhibit defects,
but to indicate the kind of information we
desiderate in a compilation otherwise trust-
worthy and useful. Regarded merely as a
miscellaneous heap of facts, gathered from a
multitude of scattered sources, and put to-
gether with more diligence than judgment,
the publication may be consulted with advan
tage for isolated details. It throws light into
many neglected crannies, and collects in a
portable form a mass of heterogeneous de-
scriptions which, taken separately, are curious
and valuable. It is in the want of combination
and design that Mr. Timbs has failed to make
the most of his materials, and to give effect
and purpose to his labours. The distinguish-
ing merit of the book consists in the Mum
of its particulars respecting the last half-cen-
tury and the present atate of London ; and,
under this limitation, we are not aware of any
work that contains so much matter in so com-
pact a shape, or conveyed with so much clear-
ness and accuracy.

Les Petits Paris —Le Journaliste.
Taride.

Pane:

IN imitations of the " Characters" of the old
Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, the French
have always greatly excelled. That of La
Bruyere, which Macaulay somewhere calls
" the production of a small, fine mind, full of
" delicate tact," has taken a permanent and
distinguished place in European literature, and
is universally read with nearly as much eager-
ness as when it first appeared some two cen-
turies ago, and certainly with more serious
attention. In those of late years, which have
been very numerous, the principal types of the
different classes, trades, professions, and cha-
racters of the great French people are hit off
with wonderful skill and vigour, and not un-
frequently with brilliant wit. This is particu-
larly true of " Les Francais Peints par Eux-
memes " and " Les Physiologies," saying no-
thing of the admirable sketches of character
which are to be found in different novelists,
and especially in the great Balza°. The thing,
indeed, has been so well and completely done
that it is not without surprise that we find
that it is being done over again in a series of
diminutive volumes bearing the above title.
La Bruyere, to be sure, says "it n'y a point
" d'annees que les folies des hommes ne puis-
" sent fouriiier un volume "; but really there
is so little distinguishable difference between
the types of the Frenchmen of 1854 and those
of 1844—though in the interval two or three
revolutions have passed over their heads—that
they need not, it seems to us, have been called
on to sit again for their portraits.
The authors of " Les Petits Paris " have,
however, thought differently ; and we hear
that their work has met with a very large
share of publio favour ; but we cannot,
for our parte, praise it very highly. The
actor, stockjobber, priest, mountebank, physi-
cian, gambler, and the forty or fifty other
types of the good Parisians whom they have
selected, are perfectly familiar in " the form
" and habit as they live," with all their pecu-
liarities, eccentricities, and absurdities, to the
existing French people, and, moreover, to all
foreigners who have visited Paris, skimmed
through French light literature, or gone to
French plays—that is, to everybody one de-
gree removed from the manual-toiling classes.
Nor do the style and quality of the work
relieve the staleness of the subject. Written
by the three editors of the Charivari, we find
in every page a laborious attempt at fun; but
the fun evolved—when any is evolved at all—
is rather dismal, or is of that good old war
ranted-to-last class which is to be found in all
jest-books. And even that is disfigured by
such gross vulgarities as, " As-tu finites
" manieres? " "Affeux Bilboquet va!"
To one of the subjects treated by our au-
thors—that of "Le 3ournaliste"--we turned
with a certain degree of professional interest;
aid, seeing that they began by a formal pro.
wise to conduct the reader behind the scenes