26 JANUARY 1889, Page 22

Vanity Fair Album. Vol. XX. (Vanity Fair Office.) — This twentieth "Show

of Sovereigns, Statesmen, Judges, and Men of the Day," is naturally very muoh like those that have been exhibited before. The demand for celebrities to fill up fifty-two pages, of course exceeds the supply ; and consequently, each volume is somewhat less interesting than the one that has gone before. There is no man of anything like the first note, unless we are to except M. Floquet. French Premiers are celebrities for the time being, though that time does not last long. There is a certain number of people who are sufficiently interesting to make us wish to see how they look in the flesh; there are at least as many to whom all but a very small circle must be wholly indifferent; and there are some whom it is quite ludicrous to label as "states- men," and of doubtful truth to describe as "men of the day." It must be allowed, however, that " Jehu Junior" knows exactly what he is doing. Necessity compels him to give the honour of a cartoon to some obscure and even disreputable person ; but he takes care to qualify this honour by a titulus which is anything but flattering. It is quite possible, for instance, that the gentleman known as " Tay Pay," one of those who by the " development of Parnellism has been enabled to embrace the trade of Patriotism," may have felt scarcely grateful for the distinction of being presented to the public in "his habit as he lives." Among the persons por- trayed are Prince Albert Victor, Lord Justice Cotton, and Justices Day, Hannon, Kay, and Smith, Lord Hartington, Mr. T. W. Russell, Dean Bradley, the Bishop of Carlisle, and Mr. Finlay. Literature is represented by Mr. James Payn, Mr. Haweis, and Mr. Oscar Browning, and medicine by Sir William Dolby. Four artists con-

tribute, the well-known name of " Spy " being signed to more than three-fifths of the whole number. To "Ape," another well-known name, ten are attributed—(we sincerely regret to learn, as we write, that Signor Pellegrini is dead)—about as many to "Lib ;" and two bear a signature, "Hay," which we do not remember to have seen before. The satire of " Spy" is especially forcible; his colleagues are more kind, and sometimes they even flatter.