he
adroit knack of bright writing in a more eminent degree. The pawky
humour of his side-hits, the blending of light and shade in the process
of the narrative, the beauty and melody that can be noted even in the
sound of the sentences, combine to delight the judgment, the ear, and
the fancy. Though the _Vicar of Wakefield_ is a prose production, it
produces all the effect of a poem on the affections of the heart. Of
wit, properly speaking, it is as full as any volume of _The Spectator_;
with humour it is flooded from beginning to end; and in those pathetic
delineations of life which no one can read without being profoundly
touched, there are few poems so rich.

BIBLIA ABIBLIA.

In many (indeed most) houses I have visited, I see in the bookcase large
publications in six or seven well-bound parts and as good as new,
dealing with subjects of little interest to anyone who breathes the
vital air of heaven. Such titles as _Science for All_, _The Thames from
its Source to the Sea_, _The Queens of England_ are among the commonest
on the boards of the books I allude to. The presence of these editions
indicates that the possessor at a certain period of his life was shy and
could not say _no_ to that limb of the Evil One--the book-canvasser. The
latter individual is the forerunner of the colporteur, who will bring
you, if you wish poetry, an edition of the works of Shakespeare which is
peculiarly ill-adapted for holding in the hand and reading. The print is
large, the page is in size like a miniature wall-map, and the
illustrations are got up with an easy defiance of archeology. The
annotations, though stolen, are distinguished for extreme futility.
After you have begun the purchase of such a book, shame and chagrin
drive you to attempt the study of it; but it is of no use, and on each
occasion of the very regular advent of the colporteur, you are inclined
to swear horribly, after which a period of extreme dejection supervenes
when you recollect the many fine things you could purchase for the
half-guinea periodically expended. The knowledge of human nature
displayed by the man who books the order surpasses anything in the works
of the analytical philosophers. Every artifice of attack is his, and he
knows how to play on all the emotions so ably and exhaustively
catalogued in the manuals of Professor Bain. I believe a gay and
chaffing rejoinder is what he can least overcome. Suggest to him that
you are far gone in poverty and of