The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-25 00:00:00

TVatkins's London Directory. 1853.

An enormous undertaking has here been adventured
upon in the form of a comprehensive guide to all ad-
dresses in the British metropolis. " Watkins's London
Directory " purports, and with reason, to be both
general and commercial. It comprises, moreover, a
guide through the " Environs," very copious, and to a
considerable extent very accurate in its character. As
a frontispiece to the volume, there is a magnificent map
of the Capital of England, prepared and printed ex-
pressly for this publication by Deere—a map extending
so far in its delineation of the suburbs as to include
Willesden, Wormwood Scrubbs, Barnes Common,
Putney Park, Clapham Common, East Dulwich, Lewis-
ham, Greenwich Park, Bromley Marsh, Stratford, Low-
Lepton, Stoke Newington, and. Cricklewood. Alto-
gether the work appears to us very skilfully arranged,
and that surely is about the foremost desideratum in a
metropolitan directory. The• principal divisions
are, as they ought to be, large and well-assorted.
A " Street Key " follows immediately after the
" General Alphabetical Directory " after which
come the - "Scientific Directory" and the "Pro-
fessional Directory." In a mercantile point of view, one
of the prominent features of the compilation is that
which is defined upon the title-page as the " Classifica-
tion of Trades." Thereupon we have the " Court
Guide," followed by the "Legal Directory." The guide
to "All the Public Offices " includes, of course, every
one of the various offices of the Government. Besides
the foregoing divisions, there are four others of some im-
portance : there is a " List of Bankers," thereis a
"Parliamentary Companion," there is a considerable
store of " Postal Information," and there is a division—
and a very valuable division too—relating to "Convey-
ance." Added to all this, we have towards the end, the
" Environs," as already intimated, in the shape of a
succinct and orderly supplement. The/comprehensive-
ness of the work is sufficiently well pointed out by its
originators in the remark prefixed to its 2,102 pages, to
the effect that it extends " on the north to Camden Town,
south td Camberwell, east to the East India Docks,
and west to Bayswater"—this, of course, being exclusive
of the supplementary guide to the environs. As testi-
monies that every regard has been had to the typo-
graphy, as well as to the topography, it is only neces-
sary to observe that the printing of the volume has been
confided to the firm of Spottiswoodes and Shaw, and the
publishing to that of Longman, Brown, Green, and
Longmans. Altogether, the proprietor, F. W. Watkins,
tells us on his title page—for we need scarcely say that
we have not ventured to count for ourselves—that the
Directory comprises no less than 142,000 names and ad-
dresses. These names and addresses, we learn from the
preface, are thus distributed :-92,000 under the Alpha-
betical Directory, 122,000 under the Street Key, 1,000
professions and trades under the Professional and Trades
Directory, 30,000 of the nobility and gentry under the
Court Directory, and so on through the rest of the clas-
sified divisions, with 15,000 names and addresses for the
environs—making the sum total of 142,000 as already
intimated. A violent controversy has for some time
past, we may observe, been carried on between the respec-
tive proprietors, as to the relative merits of Watkins's
Directory and of Kelly's Post-Office Directory. The
former has claimed, by the way, a superiority over the latter
in regard to accuracy, as well, we believe, as in reference
to the possession in his work of something like 20,000 or
30,000 names additional. For ourselves, we shrink from
any participation in squabbles of this character. Coin-
ciding with good Mistress Malaprop that " comparisons
are oderous," we should have been disposed to preser
silence as to the respective value of the two publications.
But seeing the claim already referred to, we conceive
that the claimant has thereby driven us to an alternative.
Satisfied upon this. point, and reviewing the two works
dispassionately, we give the preference distinctly, de-
cidedly, and unquestionably, to " Post-Office
London Directory." That work we conceive to be alto-
gether unrivalled among works of that description. We
regard the volume before us, namely " Watkins's Di-
rectory," as in itself really very wonderful, and as only
inferior (but then decidedly inferior) when brought into
comparison with its still more wonderful contemporary.
Everything considered, however, and setting " Kelly's
Post-Office London Directory" altogether on one side,
" Watkins's Directory" appears to us peculiarly meri-
torious, and indicative of an astonishing combination of
enterprise, industry, and perseverance.

THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS' PROPERTY.—The sale of
the beautiful articles which belonged to the late Duke of
Orleans, was brought to a conclusion, on Friday. The
objects then
sold consisted principally of silks of the
richest description, which had been ordered for the pur-
pose of being used in fitting up the private apartments
of the prince, but which his sudden death left unem-
ployed. They sold for prices certainly far below their
value, but still high enough to realise, in the aggregate,
a considerable sum. The four curtains and four por-
tieres, of figured silk, brought 28,000 fr. The beautiful
piece of brocatelle, which had excited so much admiration
on the day when it was on view, fetched 17,000 f. The
five portseres of tapestry, representing subjects a la
Boucher, were knocked down, the first for 3,250 fr. ; the
next pair for 2,390 fr. ; and the large one for 2,005 fr.
The whole amount of the day's sale was was 69,286 fr. ;
and that of the several days collectively upwards of
800,000 fr.

RECTORY OP ST. ANDREW UNDERSHAPT.—The
Bishop of London has given notice to the authorities of
the parish of St. Andrew TJndershaft, Leadenhall-strdet,
the rectory of which lately became vacant by the death
of the Rev. William Antrobus, B.D. that he has
suspended the tithes, &c., with a view to' the apportion-
ment of some of them to the augmentation of neighhour-
ing and poorer parishes. It was stated in the parish,
yesterday, that so soon as these arrangements are com-
pleted, his lordship will present his son, the Rev. F.
Blomfield, now rector- of St. Alphege, London-wall, to
the valuable living of St. Andrew. The rectory of St.
Alphege, which will thus become vacant, is Worth about
400/, a4year, and is in the gift of the bishop,