The Yellowplush Papers, a work at the foundation of Mr. Thackeray s fame as a writer, appeared in a London edition in 1841, collected from the pages of Fraser's Magazine. An imperfect collection, long since out of print, had previously been published in Philadelphia. It is now revived, in connection with a number of the author's miscellaneous Writings, which will appear in due succession, for its speciality of thought and character, and its exhibition of those fruitful germs of sentiment and observation which have expanded into the pictures of modern society, read throughout the world, in the pages of "Vanity Fair" and "Pendennis." In its peculiar line the Yellowplush Papers have never been surpassed. The character is well preserved and unique as the spelling, which shows that there is a genius even for cacography, and a sentiment as well as a hearty laugh in a wrong combination of letters. It is impossible to resist the infelicity of Mr. Yellowplush. His humor, too, is a pretty serious test of the ways of the world, and profit, as well as amusement, may be got from his epistles, justifying the remark of an English critic, that "notwithstanding the bad spelling and mustard-colored unmentionables of Mr. Yellowplush, he is fifty times more of a gentleman than most of his masters." Geog 4308,52.5 (1) HARVARD 18613. LIBRARY Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by HENRY P. TAPPAN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. |