31 AUGUST 1878, Page 22

Vanity Fair Album. January-June, 1878. (Vanity Fair Office.)— It should

be noted that the mode of publishing the Album has been changed. It is in future to appear in half-yearly, not yearly, volumes. Of the volume before us there is little to say. The same two clever artists who style themselves "Ape" and " Spy " have contributed the portraits. Our only criticism on these is that some are caricatures and some are not, and that there is no discernible reason why this should be so, except perhaps that the handsome men, for the most part, are not cari- catured. The letter-press is even less to our taste than usual. The first por- trait is that of Lord Beaconsfield as "The Junior Ambassador," and the tone of the notices has something "Jingoish" about it. So much for the politics. Of the ethics it is needless to speak. We know how Faithful fared in the Vanity Fair of John Bunyan. How should it be otherwise ? How can it be expected that the virtues and vices of the world should be those of the Decalogue and the Gospel ?