The Sun. — 1862-04-15 (London, England)

LITERATURE.  Number One ; or, the if ay of the TP orld. By Frank Foster. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. Aware of the extreme difficulty of relating events of personal interest as they actually occur, Goethe styled his autobiography "Truth and Fiction," and the writer of the present memoir, treading in the steps of the great German, contents himself with stating that it has a groundwork of fact; to more than which we think no work of the kind can pretend. We all of us see things through a distorted medium. Each is a hero to himself whatever he may be to his valet (should he possess that encumbrance). That amusing braggart Cellini is in this but a type of biographers generally ; but, then, to brag like Cellini one should be gifted with his genius. To this, however, the writer of the volume before us lays no claim. He is no great genius ; but then he is, comparatively, a modest man. He neither commits homicide, bullies Popes and princes, or produces works which are the admiration of the world. His tale is a " plain, unvarnished" one, fluently told, possessing no improbable or romantic features, but professing to give a view of life as seen through the Claude Lorraine glass of " Number One." Frank, the hero, is the only son of a respectable tradesman in a country town, who, neglecting his own business to look after that of others, and paying special attention to politics, suddenly dies, leaving him at 15 with a fortune of seven pounds. Thinking London a sort of Tom Tiddler's ground, where,good commercial situations and Government appointments may be had for the asking, Frank arrives in the metropolis with sundry letters of recommendation, and finds on presenting them " no effects." He then calls on a noble lord to whom his father had been useful, and is received with politeness, "promise cramm'd" and dismissed. Next,h avin g spent, his money in sight seeing he falls into difficulties, but is relieved by an old servant of his father's, named " Honest John." At length, after numberless rebuffs, he succeeds in getting a subordinate situation in the establishment of Messrs. Fountain, Pillar, and Branch, rises rapidly, leaves them to become commercial traveller to another house, and is seized with the ceccethes scribendi. Accordingly he publishes a work upon a subject he understands —Commercial Life—which sells, and a volume of poems, which does not ; then, having " a soul above buttons," he cuts commerce for letters. Thus he lives till the Australian gold fever broke out, whither he went with the double intent of writing a book on the colony and doing a geed stroke of business with the residents. Arrived there, he soon converted his four hundred pounds worth of property into two thousand, then returned to England, bought another cargo and once more started for the golden shore. But a change had come Theovre -_ash goods o tohoedfsAustralian scene. No longer was there a pwueircehassoeld at a purchasers. Thleossmoafr7koetpewr acsengt.lu, tatnedd. the ruined speculator once more turned his steps towards home. Finding now that "the cupboard was bare" he delivers lectures, publishes an account of his travels, starts an entertainment in the Albert Smith style, his health gives way, he is seized with a dangerous illness, becomes an incurable invalid, and derives consolation from religious faith. Such is a bare outline of the contents of the volume which, should the author live, is, it seems, to be followed by another and similar one. The value of the work thus consists in its relating a series of experiences in an amusing and unobjectionable form, with the intention of enabling the young reader to profit by example. The hero is a fair specimen of an average character. If not always prudent, he is neither vicious nor criminal. Though he becomes religious under affliction, there is no case of miraculous conversion. The beginning of his career shows how " great expectations" of patronage and employment come to naught, and the end how those who make haste to grow rich may find their dreams of fortune melt like icicles in the sun. Still he neither complains or despairs. Always reande. y to help himself, of everything. His view of life is therefore a p healthySomewhatsuperfiheciambakpes the best perhaps, it may be, though to this the general reader will not trate its character : object ; but the following extracts will best illus.