The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Adventures of Philip on his Journey through the
TVorld. By W. M. Thackeray. Smith, Elder,
and Co.

Although Philip was not actually the very last
of the serial stories penned by Mr. Thackeray, it
was to our thinking the last of any importance, the
last that was really worthy of him, of his many
rare and exquisite powers as a humorist, as a genial
and (let us a thousand and a thousand times pro-
test it) not a cynical humorist. Vanity Fair first
and foremost ; then The Newcomes ; then Esmond ;
then Philip; then—after " Philip "—Pendennis;
and after " Pendennis" The Virginians. Afterwards
—sed Longo intervallo—such wholly. inadequate evi-
dences of the genius of the great Satirist-Humorist
as The Iloggarty Diamond [though in that, by the
way, there is one of the most exquisite of all his
many true touches of nature—where the young
mother confuses her own age with that of her lost
baby l] or again—about the last of worth among
them all—such another historiette as that about
Barry Lyndon. It is not simply the character of
Philip himself, the great, rough, tender-hearted,
tawny-bearded, outspoken, manly Philip, with' all
his faults and all his excellencies, with all his blun-
dorings and all his gentleness toward those who are
friends to him, it is not simply, we say, the charac-
ter of Philip that wins upon our love, and charms
us into interest iu the fortunes of the principal per-
sonages of the story more directly revolving around
him as the hero of it. Far beyond anything
connected more directly with the chief sub-
ject of the narrative, in fact, is the charm attach-
ing the reader's regard and admiration through-
out to the actual narrator—Arthur Pendennis.
Pendennis, as the historian of Philip—Pendennis
wins upon us far more than he does in his own
history, that is, in " Pendennis." Here in
" Philip " the charm of the character of Arthur
Pendennis comes out fully upon our recognition.
To our fancy—as an examplar of the lettered
gentleman of the middle of the nineteonth century,
here in England, here in London, Pendennis, as he
now reveals himself to us—his inner nature, his lik-
ings and dislikings, his whims and oddities, his de-
licate sense of humour —Pendennis himself as a
creation, to our thinking, is perfect. He is as perfect
a creation of the novelist's art in his way as
—in his way—was his uncle himself, the incompa-
rable Major Pendennis of the clubs. As perfect,
as true to nature and to reality, as Colonel New-
come, in his way again—or as F. B. in his—or
as J. J. in his—or, again, (among Thackeray's female
characters), let us say; as either Becky Sharp or
Ethel Newcoine. But—reverting to Philip, what a
delightful diversity of character one notes therein
grouped around Philip himself and his friend and
historian Pendennis —Mrs. General Baines, the old
harridan—the poor illiterate Little Sister—the ras-
cally, swindling Doctor Firmin, father—.
that horrible roue, blasé, hectoring, brutal
peer of the realm, who. plays now and then so
conspicuous a part in the story—honest, vulgar,
good-natured Mr. Mugford of the Pall Mall
Gazette—no longer a merely fictitious contem-
porary, by the way, but a sort of posthumous ema •
nation of the creative genius of the author *of
Philip, our dead and gone, but not forgotten—on
the contrary, our more than ever fully appreciated
and admired Novelist, Humourist, and Satirist,
our thoroughly Genial, Social Philosopher, William
Makepeaco Thackeray.

Emblems Divine and Moral. By Francis Quarles.

William Tegg.

As beautiful an edition, we suppose, as ever yet
has appeared of " Quarles' Emblems," together with
the same charmingly quaint old Poet's School of the
Heart and Hieroglyphics of the Life of illan has just
now been issued from the press by Mr. Tegg in the
form of a luxuriantly illustrated volume—internally
as full of exquisite conceits as a poppy-head is of
seeds, and externally as resplendent in appearance
as the poppy's scarlet blossom. It is a book equally
fitted for the library shelf and the drawing-room
table for the amateur's pocket or the traveller's
valise.

Bright Thoughts for Little Ones. Illustrated by
John Proctor. Cassell, Fetter, and Galpin.
A most delectable book of pictures, tales, and
verses—drawn, told, and warbled for the dear little
ones clustered about her footstool by the delight-
fullest old grandmatna ! It will be welcomed in
many a nursery and pored over in the glow of the
winter firelight upon many a home heat th-rug.

The Writer's Enchiridion ; or the Orthographer's
Friend. Messrs. Lockwood, and Co.
The second edition, this is, of a very useful little
pocket volume, explanatory of the more frequently
encountered puzzles of orthography.

Exuberant Growth of Tonsils as a Fertile Source Of
Delicate Health and Arrest of Development in
Young Persons. By James Yearsley, M.D.
A treatise this is that will come home to many an
anxious mother—treating, as it does, of a disease
that affects, with so many, health, hearing, and
happiness.

_Tti3lly's Pas t- Office Directory for 1867.

-

One of the great facts that bring vividly to mind
the rapid approach of the new year 1867 is the pub-
lication of the annualedition, by the Messrs. Kelly,
of the "Post-offieeDirectory"—a work that has now
become a positive necessity to all persons engaged
in the trade and commerce of the metropolis. Year
by yaar various improvements have been introduced,
until at last the work is as near perfection as human
ingenuity can make it. As the goodly
volume lies before us, with its cheerful
cherry-coloured binding, what an extraordinary
catalogue it presents of the busy thousands engaged
in trade, and what a record of the multitudinous
" callings," the following of which by some one or
other leads to imperishable fame or gigantic for-
tune. It would be a great curiosity in its.way if it
were possible to collect together the various matters
during the year on which the "Post-office Directory"
is consulted. What tales of happiness and woe, what
hopes and fears, and what success and disaster
often occur through the want of a lost address ;
but with " Kelly's Directory" at hand the chances
are a million to one but that you find the required
information. That the Directory is cor-
rected down to the latest possible moment, the
following alterations, consequent upon the recent
legal changes, will at once show. Sir Fitzroy
Kelly, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, appears in
the Law Directory, in the list of Privy Councillors,
and Official Index. The name is taken out of the
Parliamentary and list of Queen's Counsel, and cor-
rected in the Court Directory; Sir Daniel Gooch, the
newly-created baronet, gazetted Nov. 13, appears as
such in the Parliamentary Directory and Court Di-
rectory ; Mr. Yardley, late magistrate at Maryle-
bone police court, who died Nov. 18, is taken out of
the Police Courts, the List of Barristers, Official
Index, and Court Directory; Mr. Vesey-Fitzgerald,
the new Governor of Bombay, gazetted on the 20th
of November, is inserted in the Official Directory;
Mr. Kavanagh, the new member for Wexford,
elected Nov. 27, is inserted in Parliamentary and
Court Directory ; Mr. Chas. Lanyon, M.P., for
Belfast, elected Nov. 27, is in Parliamentary and
Court Directory ; Sir Hugh Cairns, Lord Justice of
Appeal, is inserted in the Law Directory, List of
Privy Councillors, Official Index, and taken out
of Parliamentary Directory as M.P. for Belfast,
and list of Queen's CounSel ; Sir John Rolt,
Attorney-General, appears as such in the Law
Directory, in the Chief Officers of State,
the Official Index, Parliamentary and Court
Directory; Mr. William Miller, the late Chief
Cashier of the Bank of England, whose death was
announced November the 30th, is taken out of the
Bank of England and Official Index ; Mr. Lenon
Conyngbam, late Chief Clerk of the Foreign-office,
whose death was announced Nov. 28th, is taken out
of Official Directory; Sir William Bovill, Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, gazetted Nov. 30,
appears in Law Directory, Official index, is taken
out of the Parliamentary Directory as M.P. for
Guildford, List of Q.C.'s, and corrected in court by
striking out M.P. ; Mr. Karslake, the new Soli-