The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-05 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Dec. 4.
The Queen, attended by the Hon. Emily Cath-
cart, walked in the grounds yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Louise,
went out this afternoon.

LITERATURE.

New Editions of Famous Works•

ti athek. An Arabian Tale. By William Beck-
ford, Esq. One Vol. Pp. 184. 'Pegg.

The lovers of romance have reason to thank Mr.
Tegg for this exquisite edition of an exquisite tale
Beckford's Arabian Tale of " Vathek."
Externally and internally—that is, in binding and
in embellishment—it is worthy of this brief but per-
fect masterpiece. William Harvey, the illustrator
par excellence of" The Arabian Night's Entertain-
ments," is the artist from whose pencil we have the
illustrations. And prefixed to the wonderful nar-
rative of " Vathek," we have from " R. 5.," who-
ever that may be, a biographical sketch of the ac-
complished and voluptuous author—William Beck-
ford, son of the famous Alderman William
Beckford, twice Lord Mayor of London, purchaser
founder and planter of the estate of Fonthill.
William Beckford's life is in itself a romance. Born
on the 27th of September, 1759, nearly ten years
before the birth of Napoleon the Great and the
Duke of Wellington, and dying on the 2d of May,
1844, his span of life extended over eighty-four
years. On his coming of age, in 1781, he was then
the richest commoner in England. His net income
was £lOO,OOO a year, and in ready money he came
into possession of one million sterling. Five years
afterwards he bad written Vathek. He wrote it at
one sitting. Three days and two nights he was bard
at work at it—never taking off his clothes the
whole time—and having a serious illness after-
wards as the result of that severe application.
What was yet more remarkable about Vathek, was
the fact that Beckford wrote it originally lc
French, and in French so thoroughly idiomatic
that it was for some time believed to have been
written by a Frenchman. It was afterwards trans-
lated into English : so that in point of fact, the
tale, as we here have it, is not the original, but a
translation. If only for the conception and descrlr
tion of the Hall of Eblis, it is deserving of immor-
tality. It is a gem of price—one entire and perfect,
chrysolite. And as such, it is indeed worthy of
its present setting. Small as it is, the book 15
worthy of a cordial welcome, and ought to hays,
what we doubt not it will command in its present
form, an extended circulation.

The Spectator. With an Introduction, Notes, and
Index, by Henry Morley. One Vol. Pp. 919'
_ __

Routledge.
Professor Morley has conferred upon all these
who love to drink from the " pure well of Englie'
undefiled" a veritable boon in placing within their
reach, under the imprimatur of the Messrs. Roe
ledge, this compact, and beautiful, and w°rt.
derfully complete, re-issue of " The Spectator"---
Addison and Steele's Spectator. Thursday, March
1, 1711, appeared the first " Spectator," No. T
written by Joseph Addison. Monday, December 2v+
1714, appeared the last, No. 635, written by Henry
Grove. When first collected they were inscribed PJ
Sir Richard Steele to the Baron of Evesham, better
known as Lord Somers. They constitute the most de-
lightful literary miscellany that has ever been Pr°-
duced. And as such they are a noble monument of e
friendship between two great men of letters, as re;
nowned as that associating together in draulati
literature the names of the Damon and Pythias °f
English poetry, Beaumont and Fletcher. As the
frontispiece, or rather as the vignette portraiture 011
the title-page of this new edition, we have the
f
" short face" of Mr. Spectator himself, i.e., 0,
Sir Richard Steele, the original projector o'i
principal editor of it throughout, or at any rate
to the close of No. 555, which is the last 01',
the genuine Addison-and-Steele periodical. Wb,et
is especially noticeable in regard to this el
tion is that it faithfully reproduces the origi"e
text both as first issued and as corrected 191
its authors afterwards. The " Introduction" Pre;
fixed to the collection, though extending lose
little more than twenty pages altogether, enab
of
Mr. Morley to give us at a glance a survey °f
the times in which Joseph Addison and Ricblmei
Steele and their confreres and collaborateurs peon .11
day by day their charming papers about Wirt
Honeycomb, and Sir Roger de Coverley, and
and letters, and life and manners, and fun an
frolic, and wisdom and wit—sweetening sc'llti
existenee in those days with a flavour of morn'.o
„
that has come down to us in these days of our (T io
~ar
through so many intervening generations, apd the
still as fresh upon our lips, as agreeable in "
nostrils, as delicious to the taste, and as gladden-
in
g and exhilarating to the heart, as ever it 1f.,0
in their own lifetime to Steele-and-Addino
contemporaries. The book is almost a librarinee
itself, so ample is its range. It is in one Ise it
almost a microcosm of literature. To knoll is
(as was said so charmingly of a beautiful laclY/
of itself a liberal education.

The Works of Lawrence Sterne. One Vol., PP'
648. Routledge.
It was Leigh Hunt, if we remember rightly,Ti..nb°,l
by a magnificent hyperbole of panegyric, P'l4
flounced " Tristram Shandy" the wittiest 11.5$
that ever was written, the drollest, the of
humorous. Call it one of the three' or fotlt.„-g
such books in the world's literature worthy of bel",l
so eulogized, and you are right. flea.
side by side with " Don Quixote" and with "
wick," and, even then, it will hold its own. -,00
world of readers shook its sides when it firet°
out—ushering it into existence with peals of 'too
ter. And it has been doing the like ever s.1:0
in the remembrance of it. It is naughW7 1-not
audacious, it is a violation of all the proprieties-ere-
a doubt of it; but for all that it is delightful• 08
on the title-page—alas ! poor Yorick —he is I°l° :1
at us whimsically as of old under his arched.' 1301
let us say, under his arch eyebrows, with his wig,,,f•
head leaning upon his forefinger. Sterne, ocl
rence, the Reverend ! Incongruous, that Itoe—thot
was in his instance. But so it was also for of
matter, in the instance of Swift, of Rabe
Wolcot, of Barham, and we know not now
more of those unclerical jokers. Here, Inc'vreg!.,..;ti.
this goodly volume we have Sterne in his et"',",oo
We have his life, written by Himself. WeA
the whole of that wonderful Tristram Shilnulitalf
the Sentimental Journey through France an -
to
—of the Sermons—of the Letters : even dOll-clo
the merest fragment, or to the History of It_
Warm Greatcoat. The present is more than of
simply comprehensive edition of the W
alla ° 6-seati-
Sterne—it is careful in the editing of it, b
tiful in its typography.

The Poetical Works of Scott. One vol., PP. 60

W arne.
Another of those marvellous Chandos Classic°;
been issued in succession a Shilling
in the three preceding volumes of which there 113/1.
shakspere, Sbj g
mg Byron, and a Shilling Longfellow —here brioge
within reach of the multitude for a dozen Pelle;
the whole of Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Writillgo,
The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, the firtb;,
of the Lake, the Vision of Don Roderick, Roke
the Bridal of 'rriermain, the Lord of the Isles, .ci the
Field of Waterloo, llareld the Dauntless,
ell3lrtnla
Hill, Border Minstrelsy, Ballads from the
G.c;
ul
and the whale mass of the miscellaneous
Poems—all, as Doctor Marigold ld 03Y:
• OP
while heaping them out on the tray of /to no
with an air of indignation at the price (sil'
raoreea'a.
wonder) for one shilling. And, what is
markable yet, the whole is printed in larg°
able type, on capital white (uot toned) PaPer'.o
only fault we can find with the voluniei,nl is
fact, this—that the edges are not only ctirtiPvto tb°
the cutting of them, are pared down pea-
quick.

ar5.....a

th 2

Dec. 4.
ily Cath-

moon.

i Louise,

.in Beck-

,ank Mr.
isite tale
Vathek."
ding and
but per-
lustrator
atertain-
have the
rful nar-

~, who-

the ac-

m Beck-
tiVilliam
,urohaser
Fonthill.
). Born

en years
and the
of May,
;hty-four
was then
t income

he came

ive years
ote it at
was hard
thea the
s after'
lication•

iek, Wal
Rally in
diornato
tiro bon
Is trans-
fact, 00
%I, but a
descrip-

immOr-
I perfect
MtbY of
book is
k7O haYo'
j present

)tes, and
Pp. 919'

111 thOe
Engli
ain their
s. Rout.
id lOW

tator'
1110 °4
No.
nber 20,
y Henri
;ribed by
n, beta
most de'
)een pro-
neat of

s, as re-
ytbise of
As the
attire ea
lave tbe,
, i.e.,
tor an
'"

aly rate,
last (/'

-What

his edi,
original
acted by
In" Pre-
jug over
enable
irvel of
Richard
penned
ut Will
and art
fun and
y social
morality
our °II:,
3a that
in our

•
gladdeir
ir it Yf4
i.ddio°l34
ibral ill
me 09:
knout-
lady) '''

)1., pP'

6 it)*
pp'