The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-30 00:00:00

Messrs. De la Rue's Diaries and Almanacs.

Messrs. de la Rue's Diaries offer all the ado"
tages that combined utility and elegance possess:
The varietyof valuable information they contain gs
tends beyond that usually met with in works of
similar character. In addition to the post-offief
regulations, the cab fares, the dates °
moveable . holidays, and other necessary 111 i
telligence, a foreign money table, and a series 0
French weights and measures of capacity are given
in full, with a list of other foreign weights and Wil,
t
sures expressed in English standards. The amount
of astronomical information afforded is solve"
thing unusual, while a table of spec"'
qualities and expansions will be found very late'
resting and useful. The lists of the Parliaments of
Great Britain, and the Administrations since Tile
accession of George 111. to the present time, will be
serviceable to the politician. Their outward aP"
pearance is all that can be desired, and the
blue and red type, the smooth and shining
paper and handsome binding, considerably enhance
their attractions. The illuminated almanaelcs,
issued by the same publishers are also excellent
combinations of beauty and utility, and are among
the best of these useful compendiums that the Pre-
sent season has furnished.

Deane's Illustrated Almanac for 1859. Deane

and Co.
A very interesting and useful little almanac. It
gives us a great variety of household and cooking
receipts, extracts from books, both prose and poetry',
besides a multitude of scraps, either useful or amus-
ing. A list of the Post-office regulations will be
found very useful to correspondents. The illus-
trated advertiser of the goods manufactured by
Deane and Co., and sold at their well-known City
warehouses, willbe very acceptable to housekeepell'
who obtain a list of the different prices and a cor-
rect idea of the article.

ST. JAMES'S HALL.

The announcement that the noted Mr. Barnun,i,
was about to deliver an address on "Money-making
last night had at least this recommendation about
it, that the lecturer, to everybody's knoivledge, Was
thoroughly " up" in his subject. That he has often
used " humbug" as an expedient for getting money
he has already confessed with terrific frankness,
but that in the art of money-making itself he has
proved himself a genuine proficient no one oil
doubt for a moment.
Though Mr. Barnum's " address" flowed on froul
beginning to end without any interruption, save
what was occasioned by the noise of the crowd,
it may fairly be divided into two parts—one
relating to money-making in general, the other
to that particular branch of the art which is assn'
ciated with the word " humbug." The first Pax,'
comprised a defence of that love of lucre which is
so conspicuous in the present generation, and also
contained a series of sage maxims on the relations
between income and expenditure, which were much
in the tone of Poor Richard's Almanack, but were
illustrated by a number of diverting stories.
But it was when he came to the treatise on
"humbug" that the admiration of his hearers rose
to its greatest height. Had he satisfactorily
demonstrated that he was John Howard or Alfred
the Great, or any other immortal benefactor of 1119
race, he could not have been honoured with more
encouraging cheers than when, with' marvellous
effrontery, he declared that he himself was eol•
sidered the greatest " humbug" in the whole waft
However, before he had placed himself on this hip
moral pedestal, he had so defined the word hum"
bug" as to render it comparatively harmless. Th,,e
man who sells a bad article, or even- a good
article at too high a price, is, according to the
Barnum lexicon, a mere "cheat," who has no right
to the ennobling title of "humbug." The "hum'
bug" proper is, in fact, an honest soul, who vends
a good article at a fair price, but does not scruple
to sound his own trumpet in order to bring custe.
mers together. In plain English, Mr Barnuln
limits the word "humbug" to the signification
which we commonly denote by the word "puff:"
Thus the Frenchman who clapped a helmet on Ins,
head to draw attention to the really excellent
lead pencils which he sold in the street was 3
"humbug" of the most virtuous kind. So als°
was Mr. Barnum himself when he opened LI
really excellent museum to the public at a to
price, though he used ploughing elephants, do"
cile buffaloes, and manufactured mermaids as
pedients to obtain notoriety, and though the
pictures outside the museum bore the least jos;
sable resemblance to the curiosities within. hi
fine tissue of sophistry was illustrated by some
capital stories, of which Barnum himself was gene-
rally the hero, and which, though many of them
must have been familiar to several of the audience,
were rendered infinitely amusing to all who heard
them by the humour with which they were told.
Whether a huge multitude applauding an orator
,
for a deliberate panegyric of " humbug" may b
considered as a sign of the high moral state of
nation is a point that we will not here discus'
But we are bound to admit that Mr. Barnum cs
one of the most entertaining lecturers that ev.c
r
addressed an audience on a theme universally 111-.
telligible. Whether people feel wiser and better
after listening to his sage maxims and odd examPles
may be doubted, but it is certain that a comfortable
sense of shrewdness comes over them when they
reflect on what they have heard during two WI
of hearty merriment.