The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-26

made his way at last to where his drag stood at the
gates III the bright light of May evening at seven
o'c ock.
so much for the frothy style of the work which
is lust now the rage in our fashionable circles
It's easy morality can be readily distinguished
and as il deals in no character who has less than
flOOOO a year, our readers may rest assured
that any of the sins It depicts are written in
French, which we all know takes away all the
harm.
A few words as to the plot. There are two
heroes. The principal, one Ernest Chandos, ls a
rich, feted, petted favorite, OF whom the extract
we give above speaks The other, John Ire
VIENNA, is an apparently iovial, but really
scheming, willy, treacherous villain, who worms
himself into the confidence of Chandos and ruins
him. The reason for his extraordinary hatred
is darkly shadowed forth in the prologue, but is
never openly declared until the end OF the work,
when it is pointed out. Trevenna is Chandos
bastard brother. The great body of the work is
given up to the slow process by which the false
friend wrecks the financial prospects Of his too
trusting patron. The venemous treachery of
the one and the confidence of the other are
alike delineated, but we must protest
against such character as 'Trevenna,' and are
sure that the readers OF the work will agree
with us in our opinion that there never could
have existed such a man. We can understand
how mar can murder family of eight fellow
creatures; we can understand any moderate
amount of deceit; but that one who is taken by
another out of Jail, fostered, enriched, placed
n Parliament, and made a great man of, can
for a space of twenty years bend all his ener-
gies to ruin his benefactor-it is impossible.
Finally, however, the hero, who in spite of his
afIectations and nonsense has our sympathy,
comes into possession of his wealth again. He
discovers that his evil genius, then a Prime
Minister, made his fortune by fraud and usury,
and threatens to expose him to the world. Ex-
posure meant death with Travenna,' and as he
is about to end his life with his own hands,
'Chandos' forgives his wrongs and promises
secresy.
To deny to the work deep interest, considera-
BILE dramatic power, and creative faculty of no
mean order, would be unjust. When you read
the work, it is with absorbing attention; it can
pass away hours most pleasantly, but when you
lay it by you can recall no good which has been
inCulCated by its pages. 1t has no moral, as it
has no morality; it is the butterfly creature of
day, but is admirable while it lasts. 1t is unne-
cessary for us to recommend it as all will read it
anyhow.
The appearance of "Chandosn recalls to
mind the previous production of "Ouidas" pen,
''Strathmore." 1t is novel like "Chandosn in
all its peculiarties, and will probably be re-read
by many after the perusal of Its successor which
we have noticed above.
JOSH BnLNes-HIs Book. G. W. Carleton, New
York. Philadelphia Agents: Ashmead Il
Evans, No. 724 Chestnut street.
Whom A Wa rd frct mn had
ous work, it made sensation, not because of
any great merit but because the hideous form
of orthography being novelty, attracted at
tention. His second book was fiat, STALE and
Improbable, and with its failure we had hoped
that the last of this style had appeared. We
must confess therefore, that we opened "Josh
Blhngs-His Book, with aslnking of spirit. Bill
ltngs labors under great disadvantage. The
idea OF the work is not original, the Illustrations
are not funny, the paper is bad, and the topogra-
ply might be easily improved. But all extra
neOus obstacles melt into perfect insignidcance
when we consider that the draw back to success
caused by the author himself
First of all, what possible wit is there in mis-
spelling? What form or shape of humor is
there in spelling "use'' ''uz, )" "dogn "dorg" and
horse" "hossW What constitutes the fun in
so numbering the laws of Lindley Murray that
it is a matter for translator, rather than a
reader. to understand a work We cannot see
the point in thus seeking to make a stroke OF
wit by covering up the insipidIty by vile
spelling. If there is anything like humor in
what is being written, then the quicker
it reaches the readers mind, the more
powerful and pungent will be the
effect. Shakespeare hath it that 'brevity is the
soul of wits" and what would the bard think
were ne compelled to wade through barbarous
jargon in order to distil spoonful of mirth? II
a writer had that rare power OF so putting
things as to make them appear ridiculous, ther
it is worse than useless, it is positively injurious
10 his powers TO weigh down his Jokes with
hldeous phraseology. If nothing else, therefore
| tended to ruin the pages of Josh Billings, Ht
Book" this one popularity would be quite suffi
cient TO disgust all ordinarily intelligent readers
Laying aside this disadvantage, we must statt
that, having heard Billings as lecturer, W.
were woiully disappointed in the subject-matte
OF the book. The main point of his wit la,
in the rapidity with which he changed his sub
iects. One OF his best points was his continua
reference to ANSWERS to Correspondents,
which, although not humorous in themselves
were made 80 by the sudden change of thought
| But when we see the answer set down in dis
tinct chapter they lose much OF their excellence
Yet with all its defects, the book shows NOR
merit than any which we have seen of the sam
kind. 1t has more true vim than Artemu
Wards, but we deprecate the whole system Q
misspelling. Orpheus G. Kerr scorned to use il
aud 1a for hut anu nf thOs