19 JANUARY 1867, Page 21

William Hogarth's Essays on the Man, the Work, and the

Time. By (IA. Sala. (Smith and Elder.)—This reprint from the Cornhill Magazine is not without considerable merit of a certain kind. Mr. Sala's digressive and interjectional style will always repel some people, who cannot be bribed to endure it by any amount of graphic reporting. But for those who are not fastidious in this particular, and delight in vivid pictures of superficial life, that gentleman's writings have a great attraction. Let any one accept Mr. Sala as his guide in history, just as he would for an excursion on the Continent, and he will find, as in this volume, all the outer life of the period perfectly reproduced. The last century, above all, is just the material that suits this author ; and all its varied groups, rich in colour and full of contrasts, are depicted with great feli- city of touch in these pages.