Vanity Fair Album. Vol. XV., 1883. ("Vanity Fair" Office.)— There
is little to be said of this volume. If it is not equal to some of its predecessors, it fails for lack of material rather than from want of skill in execution. We prefer the work distinguished by the the symbol of "T." to that which comes from the well-known pencil of "Spy ;" but both of these artists, and another who may be reckoned as a disciple of the latter, suffer from having sometimes to deal with subjects which nothing could make interesting. England, it seems, does not produce a sufficient number of "sovereigns, statesmen, judges, and men of the day," to furnish forth newly year by year the "show" of Vanity Fair. The ladies, of whose portraits there are five, help out the number, and "Ahmed Arabi, the Egyptian," and Tewfik Pasha figure among the notables; this still leaves forty-five native celebrities, and England, it would scorn, is not equal to the demand. The "statesmen" are particularly indifferent, not a Cabinet Minister even in posse among them, we venture to think ; two or three seem to owe their admission into the list to the fact of being members of the House of Lords, and taking no part in its proceedings. Perhaps this is a kind of negative proof.
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