Works of Mr. Thackeray.

I.

LECTURES ON THE ENGLISH HUMOURISTS OF THE 18TH CENTURY.

By W. M. THACKERAY, Esq.,

Author of "Esmond," "Vanity Fair," "Pendennis," &c. Second Edition, revised by the Author.

In One Volume, crown 8vo., price 10s. 6d. cloth.

"To those who attended the lectures, the book will be a pleasant reminiscence, to others an exciting novelty. The style-clear, idiomatic, forcible, familiar, but never slovenly; the searching strokes of sarcasm or irony; the occasional flashes of generous scorn; the touches of pathos, pity, and tenderness; the morality tempered but never weakened by experience and sympathy; the felicitous phrases, the striking anecdotes, the passages of wise, practical reflection; all these lose much less than we could have expected from the absence of the voice, manner, and look of the lecturer."Spectator.

"All who did not hear these lectures will wish to know what kind of talk they were, and how these English humorists and men of genius in past times were described or criticised by a humorist and man of genius in our own. * * * What fine things the lectures contain ! What eloquent and subtle sayings, what wise and earnest writing! How delightful are their turns of humour; with what a touching effect, in the graver passages, the genuine feeling of the man comes out; and how vividly the thoughts are painted, as it were, in graphic and characteristic words."Examiner.

"This is to us by far the most acceptable of Mr. Thackeray's writings. His graphic style, his philosophical spirit, his analytical powers, his large-heartedness, his shrewdness and his gentleness, have all room to exhibit themselves.”—Economist.

"These Lectures are rich in all the best qualities of the author's genius, and adapted to awaken and nourish a literary taste thoroughly English."-British Quarterly Review.

"Full of sound, healthy, manly, vigorous writing; sagacious in observation, inde. pendent and thoughtful, earnest in sentiment, in style pointed, clear and straightforward."-Westminster Review.

"A valuable addition to our permanent literature: eloquent when the author is serious; brilliant when he is gay: they are charming reading."-Daily Nevs.

"Truly beautiful, suggestive essays, on topics fertile in suggestion."- Leader. "The most delightful book that many a day has seen."— Nonconformist.

"One of the most amusing books that we have read for a long time, and one that we think will occupy a lasting place in English literature."-Standard.

Works of Mr. Thackeray.

II.

ESMOND. By W. M. THACKERAY, Esq., Author of "VANITY FAIR," "PENDENNIS," &c. Second Edition.

In Three Volumes, Crown 8vo, Price 1l. 11s. 6d. cloth.

"A second edition of Esmond' within a few weeks of the issue of the first, speaks significantly for Mr. Thackeray's growing popularity. Mr. Thackeray has selected for his hero a very noble type of the cavalier softening into the man of the eighteenth century, and for his heroine one of the sweetest women that ever breathed from canvass or from book, since Raffaelle painted and Shakspeare wrote. Esmond will, we think, rank higher as a work of art than Vanity Fair' or 'Pendennis,' because the characters are of a higher type, and drawn with greater finish, and the book is more of a complete whole. The style is manly, clear, terse, and vigorous, reflecting every mood-pathetic, grave, or sarcastic-of the writer."Spectator.

"Once more we feel that we have before us a masculine and thorough English writer, uniting the power of subtle analysis with a strong volition and a moving eloquence-an eloquence which has gained in richness and harmony. His pathos is now sweeter,-less jarred against by angry sarcasm, but perhaps scarcely so powerful. Esmond must be read, not for its characters, but for its romantic though improbable plot, its spirited grouping, and its many thrilling utterances of the anguish of the human heart. Having reached the middle of the first volume, forward' will be the wish of every reader of this highly-wrought work."-Athenæum.

"We have at once to express in the warmest terms of praise our appreciation of the skill and taste with which Esmond' is written. The story of the novel is ingenious and very elegantly constructed, and carried onward so as to gratify constant curiosity until the end. In short, the book thoroughly occupies our minds with a sense of strength on the part of the writer, of which the manifestation is always made gracefully."-Examiner.

"In quiet richness, Esmond' mainly resembles the old writers; as it does also in weight of thought, sincerity of purpose, and poetry of the heart and brain. It is wise and sweet in its recesses of thought and feeling; and is more hopeful, consolatory, and kindly than 'Vanity Fair.' Thinking and educated readers will discern in it an immense advance in literary power over Mr. Thackeray's previous writings."-Fraser's Magazine.

A PORTRAIT OF W. M. THACKERAY, Esq. Engraved by Francis Holl, from a Drawing by Samuel Laurence. Engravers' Proofs on India Paper, 27. 25.; Prints, Il. Is.

Works of Currer Bell.

I.

VILLETTE. By CURRER BEll,

Author of "JANE EYRE," "SHIRLEY," &c.

In Three Volumes, Post 8vo, Price 1l. 11s. 6d. cloth.

"This book would have made Currer Bell famous had she not been already. It retrieves all the ground she lost in Shirley,' and it will engage a wider circle of readers than Jane Eyre,' for it has all the best qualities of that remarkable book. There is throughout a charm of freshness which is infinitely delightful: freshness in observation, freshness in feeling, freshness in expression. Brain and heart are both held in suspense by the fascinating power of the writer."-Literary Gazette.

"This novel amply sustains the fame of the author of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Shirley' as an original and powerful writer. Villette' is a most admirably written novel, everywhere original, everywhere shrewd, and at heart everywhere kindly. The men, women, and children who figure throughout it have flesh and blood in them, and all are worked out in such a way as to evince a very keen spirit of observation, and a fine sense of the picturesque in character."-Examiner.

A

"The tale is one of the affections, and remarkable as a picture of manners. burning heart glows throughout it, and one brilliantly distinct character keeps it alive. The oldest man, the sternest, who is a genuine novel-reader, will find it hard to get out of Madame Beck's school, when he has once entered there with Lucy Snowe, and made acquaintance with the choleric, vain, child-like, and noble-hearted M. Paul Emanuel."-Athenæum.

"Of interesting scenes and well-drawn characters there is abundance. The characters are various, happily conceived, and some of them painted with a truth of detail rarely surpassed. The style of Villette' has that clearness and power which are the result of mastery over the thoughts and feelings to be expressed, over the persons and scenes to be described."-Spectator.

“Villette' may claim the unhesitating commendations of readers and critics. The autobiography of the heroine is at once natural, interesting, cheerful, piquant, and thoughtful."-Britannia.

"Villette' is not only a very able but a very pleasant book. It is a tale which, though here and there it is dashed with wonder and melancholy, is as a whole cheerful and piquant; abundant in clear, clear-cut, strongly-drawn etchings, presenting so pleasant and effective a transcript of manners, English and Continental, that its success cannot fail to be remarkable.”—Morning Chronicle.

"The author of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Shirley' has again produced a fiction of extraordinary literary power, and of singular fascination; it is one of the most absorbing of books, one of the most interesting of stories. 'Villette' will add immensely to the author of Jane Eyre's' fame, as a philosophical and analytical expositor of the human heart and feelings."-Globe.

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"The whole three volumes are crowded with beauties; with good things, for which we look to the clear sight, deep feeling, and singular though not extensive experience of life, which we associate with the name of Currer Bell."-Daily News.

Works of Currer Bell.

II.

SHIRLEY; ; a Tale. By CURRER BELL. A new Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth.

"The peculiar power which was so greatly admired in Jane Eyre' is not absent from this book. It possesses deep interest, and an irresistible grasp of reality. There is a vividness and distinctness of conception in it quite marvellous. The power of graphic delineation and expression is intense. There are scenes which, for strength and delicacy of emotion, are not transcended in the range of English fiction. The women will be the favourites with all readers. Both are charming. The views of human nature which pervade the volumes, are healthy, tolerant, and encouraging." -Examiner.

"Shirley is an admirable book; genuine English in the independence and uprightness of the tone of thought, in the purity of heart and feeling which pervade it, in the masculine vigour of its conception of character, and in style and diction. It is a tale of passion and character, and a veritable triumph of pyschology."-Morning Chronicle.

"Shirley' is very clever. The faculty of graphic description, strong imagination, fervid and masculine diction, analytic skill, all are visible. Gems of rare thought and glorious passion shine here and there throughout the volumes."-Times.

III.

JANE EYRE: an Autobiography. By CURREr Bell. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth.

"Jane Eyre' is a remarkable production. Freshness and originality, truth and passion, singular felicity in the description of natural scenery and in the analyzation of human thought, enable this tale to stand boldly out from the mass, and to assume its own place in the bright field of romantic literature. We could not but be struck with the raciness and ability of the work, by the independent sway of a thoroughly original and unworn pen, by the masculine current of noble thoughts, and the unflinching dissection of the dark yet truthful character."-Times.

IV.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS and AGNES GREY.

By

ELLIS and ACTON BELL. With a Selection of their
Literary Remains, and a Biographical Notice of both
Authors, by CURRER BELL. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth.

"Wuthering Heights' bears the stamp of a profoundly individual, strong, and passionate mind. The memoir is one of the most touching chapters in literary biography."-Nonconformist.

V.

POEMS. By CURRER, ELLIS, and ACTON BELL.

8vo, 4s. cloth.

Fcap.

"Remarkable as being the first efforts of undoubted genius to find some congenial form of expression. They are not common verses, but show many of the vigorous qualities in the prose works of the same writers: the love of nature which characterises Currer Bell's prose works pervades the whole of the present volume."-Christian Remembrancer.

Mr. Gwynne's Fictions.

I.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SILAS BARNSTARKE. By TALBOT GWYNNE.

One Volume, crown 8vo., price 10s. 6d. cloth.

"Mr. Gwynne has adopted the nervous and succinct style of our forefathers, while narrating the career of a lover of money. The reader will find little to impede his interest in following the career of this bad man to its bad end."—Athenæum. "In many ways this book is remarkable. Silas and his relations stand forth so distinctly and forcibly, and with so much simplicity, that we are far more inclined to feel of them as if they really lived, than of the writers of pretended diaries and autobiographies. The manners and ways of speech of the time are portrayed admirably.” -Guardian.

"The gradual growth of the sin of covetousness, its temporary disturbance by the admixture of a softer passion, and the pangs of remorse, are portrayed with high dramatic effect, resembling in some scenes the gigantic majesty of ancient Tragedy." -John Bull.

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A story possessing an interest so tenacious that no one who commences it, will easily leave the perusal unfinished."- Standard.

"A book of high aim and unquestionable power.”—Examiner.

II.

THE SCHOOL FOR FATHERS; An Old English Story. By T. GWYNNE. Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. cloth.

"The pleasantest tale we have read for many a day. It is a story of the Tatler and Spectator days, and is very fitly associated with that time of good English literature by its manly feeling, direct, unaffected manner of writing, and nicely-managed, wellturned narrative. The descriptions are excellent; some of the country painting is as fresh as a landscape by Constable, or an idyl by Alfred Tennyson."— Examiner. "The School for Fathers' is at once highly amusing and deeply interesting-full of that genuine humour which is half pathos-and written with a freshness of feeling and raciness of style which entitle it to be called a tale in the Vicar of Wakefield school."-Britannia.

"Few are the tales so interesting to read, and so admirable in purpose and style, as 'The School for Fathers.""-Globe.

III.

THE SCHOOL FOR DREAMERS. By T. GWYNNE. Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. cloth.

"The master-limner of the follies of mankind, the author of The School for Fathers,' has produced another tale abounding with traits of exquisite humour and sallies of sparkling wit."-John Bull.

"The School for Dreamers' may be credited with life, humour, and vigour. There is a spirit of enjoyment in Mr. Gwynne's descriptions which indicates a genial temperament, as well as a shrewd eye."-Athenæum.

"A story which inculcates a sound and sensible moral in a manner equally delightful and effective.”—Morning Post.

"A powerfully and skilfully-written book, intended to show the mischief and danger of following imagination instead of judgment in the practical business of life." -Literary Gazette.

"An admirable and caustic satire on 'equality and fraternity' theories."

Britannia.