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

LITERATURE.

New Editions of Famous Works.
Trathel.:. An Arabian Tale. By William Beek-
ford, Esq. One Vol. Pp. 181. Tegg.
The lovers of romance have reason to thank 3lr.
Tegg for this exquisite edition of an exquisite tale
--William 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 Beek-
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 MaYi
1844, his span of life extended over eighty-four
years. On his coming of age, in 1781, he was the'
the richest commoner in England. His net income
was £lOO,OOO a year, and in ready money he cam°
into possession of one million sterling. Five years
afterwards he had written Vathek. He wrote it at
one sitting. Three days and two nights he was hard
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, viaa
the fact that Beckford wrote it originally in
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, bat 3
translation. If only for the conception and deserir
tion of the Hall of Eblis, it is deserving of imolai':
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 ie
worthy of a cordial welcome, and ought to have,
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 WO
who love to drink from the " pure well of Engl'
undefiled" a veritable boon in placing within their
reach, under the imprimatur of the Messrs. R°ut‘
ledge, this compact, and beautiful, and 10°'
derfully complete, re-issue of " The Spectator"'
Addison and Steele's Spectator. Thursday, garefil
1, 1711, appeared the first " Spectator," N°'„)",:'
written by Joseph Addison. Monday, December .4"
1714, appeared the last, No. 635, written by Plenri,
Grove. When first collected they were inscribed r
Sir Richard Steele to the Baron of Evesham, bet,te-
known as Lord Somers. They constitute the most n°:
lightful literary miscellany that has ever been Prs
duced. And as such they are a noble monument
friendship between two great men of letters, as re-
nowned as that associating together in dramatio
f
literature the names of the Damon and Pythiab°o
English poetry, Beaumont and Fletcher. M t 0
frontispiece, or rather as the vignette portraiture °n
the title-page of this new edition, we have tbo
" short face" of Air. Spectator himself, ix., 'd
Sir Richard Steele, the original projector an
principal editor of it throughout, or at any rate,
to the close of No. 555, which is the last °'
the genuine Addison-and-Steele periodical. Wl'!
is especially noticeable in regard to this euvi
tion is that it faithfully reproduces the °rig°
text both as first issued and as corrected bi,
its authors afterwards. The "Introduction" pre-
fixed to the collection, though extending °vet
little more than twenty pages altogether, enables 'of
Mr. Morley to give us at a glance a survey
ra
the times in which Joseph Addison and Ric°
Steele and their confreres ancl colluborateurs peaae
day by day their charming papers about /',ig
Honeycomb, and Sir Roger de Coverley, and 'a
and letters, and life and manners, and fun an
frolic, frolic, and wisdom and wit—sweetening s'3ei!ti
existence in those days with a flavour of raora
that has come down to us in these days of our ovig
through so many intervening generations, and that
foto
still as fresh upon our lips, as agreeable in
,eO,
nostrils, as delicious to the taste, and as glad"
ing and exhilarating to the heart, as ever it. 1"(0',0
in their own lifetime to Steele-and-M(10 i 0
contemporaries. The book is almost a librarfso
itself, so ample is its range. It is in one seo ic
almost a microcosm of literature. To lin°, j,4
(as was said so charmingly of a beautiful lady)
of itself a liberal education.

The Works of Lawrence Sterne. One Vol., PP'
648. Itoutledge.
It was Leigh Hunt, if we remember rightlif Pro.
by a magnificent hyperbole of panegyric, b
oat
nounced " Tristram Shandy" the wittiest "at
that ever was written, the drollest, the 131-01
humorous. Call it one of the throe or Wring
such books in the world's literature worthy of be- i 0
so eulogized, and you are right. riateit-
side by side with "Don Quixote" and with "
The
wick," and, even then, it will hold its own' moo
world of readers shook its sides when it first ca-gfr
out—ushering it into existence with peals of 131 co
ter. And it has been doing the like ever sit ig
in the remembrance of it. It is naughth not
audacious, it is a violation of all the proprietleao' ere
a doubt of it; but for all that it is delightful. Koh
on the title-page—alas ! poor Yorick —he is 1 oo
at us whimsically as of old under his arche';',.nei
let us say, under his arch eyebrows, with his W7,e'le
head leaning upon his forefinger. Sterns, ''reva
rence, the Reverend ! Incongruous, that ite/e that
was in his instance. But so it was also f..ll°rs' of
matter, in the instance of Swift, of RabehTnaof
Wolcot, of Barham, and we kaow not 110/1/ er,
more of those unclerical jokers. Here, hotel:jot/.
this goodly volume we have Sterne in his ea' have
We have his life, written by Himself. Wre,,A
the whole of that wonderful Tristram Shaul" tali
the Sentimental Journey through France 50a1,3 to
—of the Sermons—of the Letters : even d° flood
the merest fragment, or to the History of 11,_30 s
Warm Greatcoat. The present is morel,3 0f
simply comprehensive edition of the W'acir bow
Sterne—it is careful in the editing of it, au
tiful in its typography.

The Poetical Works of Scott. One Vol., PP'
Another of those marvellouslVarne. Classic
three preceding volumes of which in the
breen issued in succession a Shilling Shakspere,i'S..4
hug Byron, and a Shilling Longfellow--Iler° bri7e,
within reach of the multitude for a doscO P°ll4,
the whole of Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Writ/I eicif
The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Marrnion, the 110
of the Lake, the Vision of Don Roderick, 11t)1ettio
the Bridal of Triermain, the Lord of the Isles,
idop
Field of Waterloo, Harold the Dauntless, 1131.0,
tChere 13' AS,
Hill, Border Minstrelsy, Ballads from the Geruil jot
and the whole mass of the miscellaneous Ill'ssi,
Poems—all, as Doctor Marigold Would
caro
while heaping them out on the tray ,of hisci 00
with an air of indignation at the price (au re..
wonder) for one shilling. And, what is '3l°rrco
rnarkable yet, the whole is printed in largo ,ibe
able type, on capital white (uot toned) PaPer'.o its
only fault w© can find with the volume I/ ja
butt ~,
fact, this—that the edges are not only cu,
1 to til"
the cutting of them, are pared down nearly
quick.