A. pow OF THE MOMENT - 'DISRAELI AND IXION. -

Ecopymont -IN Tim UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE

Nee) York Times.] - -

THE republication of Disraeli's Ixion in. Heapen, illustrated by Mr. Austen; is an excellent sAventure. it -will delight all the votaries Of the' Beaconsfield tradition, for 'Talon is in fact the author hiraSelf=the "eisential youthful _Politician and: Man of Gehl& and Fashion: He behaves in heaven as Disraeli might have behaved. He sets out to win his way among- the -Olympians -"V- a -flashy. mixture of calculated impudence and unlimited .audabitY. Effrontery is Iris long

suit: - ' • - Disraeli- in his ," home letters-" from Gibraltar and. Malta tells -with delight how he insulted, yet at the same time cajoled and fascinated, .the Governors,- Military Commanders and diatinguished travellers he met on his Mediterranean Progress. Here is his letter to his father -describing how he and his friend Clay comported themselves at Malta. He begins by painting a portrait of Clay, but he is in-fact thinking -

More of himself than of his sitter :-- -

" Malta.

" Aug. 27. . " He (Clay) has been here a month, and has already beat the whole garrison at rackets and billiards and other wicked games, given lessons to their prima donna, and seccatura'd the prima tenore. . . . Lord Burghersh wrote an opera for him, and Lady Normanby a farce. He dished Prince Pignatelli at billiards, and did the Rus- sian Legation at ecartd. I had no need of letters of introduction here, and have already troops of friends.' They have been long expecting your worship's offspring, and have gained-great fame-in repeating his third-rate stories at second-hand : so in consequence of these messengers I am received with branches of palm. Here the younkers do nothing but play rackets, billiards, and cards, race and smoke. To govern men, you must either excel them in their accomplishments, or despise them. Clay does one, I do the other, and we are both equally popular. Affectation tells here even better than wit. Yesterday, 44 the racket court, sitting in the gallery among strangers, the ball entered, and lightly struck me and fell at my feet. I picked it up, and observing a young rifleman excessively ' stiff, I humbly requested him to forward its passage into the court, as I really had never thrown a ball in-my life. This incident has been the general subject of conversation at-all the messes to-day ! "

To this highly tinctured colour-print we may add that the Byronic adventurer always took great care to ingratiate himself with the " Chief Ladies" wherever he went. His eagerness, his fantastic dress, his extravagance of language, his dash of poetry, made him very popular with the wives and daughters of the military. While the men snubbed him as a vulgar, over-dressed cad, the women all petted him. He made their hearts flutter by his pointed compliments, while his sorrowful eyes, his bitter smiles, his dramatic moodiness and melancholy touched their emotions and made them want to bring him consolation.

All this is exactly like Ixion's behaviour at the Court of Jupiter. Ixion put- the Gods in their places and made the Goddesses look down with a sigh and say, " Poor fellow, how sad ! So young and so unhappy I " Take for purposes of comparison the account of how Ixion the moment he got to Olympus " sized up " the male inhabitants and began to treat them with that sublimated insolence of which the author of Vivian Grey believed himself to hold the key.

Ixion, it will be remembered, was King of Thessaly. After quarrelling with his wife, Dia, and killing his father-in-law he became extremely unpopular among the neighbouring Kings and Princes. Jupiter—the Regent, " the first gentleman in Europe," was evidently the model for the first gentleman in Heaven—took pity on Ixion, had him carried up to Olympus, and introduced him into Divine Society. Ixion a la Disraeli at once begins to order every one about. Ganymede and Mercury, lolling on their sofas, talk him over and swear they will not tolerate the intruder ; but :—

" The cedar portal was flung open, and Ixion lounged in, habited in a loose morning robe, and kicking before him one of his slippers.

" Ah ! ' exclaimed the King of Thessaly, the very fellows I wanted to see ! Ganymede, bring me some nectar ; and, Mercury, run and tell Jove that I shall not dine at home to-day.' " The messenger and the page exchanged looks of indignant consternation.

" Well ! What are you waiting for ? ' continued Ixion, looking round from the mirror in which he was arranging his locks. The messenger and the page disappeared. " So ! This is Heaven,' exclaimed the husband of Dia, flinging himself upon one of the couches ; ,` and a very pleasant place too.' These worthy Immortals required their minds to be opened, and I trust I have- effecinallY performed, the necessary. operation. They wanted to keep me-down with their dull, old-fashioned, celestial airs; but-I fancy I have given themchange for-their talent. TO make your way in Heayen you.nrust conunand. These exclusives. sink under the audacious invention of an aspirin$ mind. Jove himself is really a fine Old fellow; With 'Sarno- notions too. I rim a prime_fayourite, and no one is greater authority with iEgiochura on all subjeete, from the character of the fair sex or the pedigree of a courser, dorVii to the cut of a robe or the flavour of a dish. .- • " 7

" ' Thanks, Ganymede,' continued the Thessalian, as he took the goblet from his returning attendant." = - .

That also is Malta over again. In the sketch of Juno we see the wife of the C;(iernor of -Malta. In Minerva We :find the blde-stoeking *horn Disraeli fa alwayi quizzing in his' letters.- She—the Goddess—insistS on:Ixion writing something in her-

album. After the necessary struggle he consents :—" I have seen the world and more than the world ; I have studied the heart of man ; and now I consort with Immortals. The fruit of my tree of knowledge is plucked, and it is this, ' ADVENTURES ARE TO THE ADVENTUROUS.? -

- Juno as -here painted is a most piquante caricature of a Regency -Beauty, a little on the mature side. But, though regal, lazy and. supereilioUS, and with-no leanings to literature- or the arts, she falls an easy victim to human flattery. - The book is full of a pleasant satire throughout on London-

Society as seen through Olympian glasses. We see before us Belgravian dinner-parties, concerts and parties, " and hear: the authentic voices of Mayfair." What could ,be better than the naive confession of Venus that she likes a waterin&lace existence ?

. " Cnidos, Paphos, Cythera ; you will usually find me at one of these Places. I like the _easy distraction of a career without. any visible result. At these fascinating spots your gloomy race, to whom, by the by, I am exceedingly partial, appear emancipated from the wearing fetters of their regular, dull, orderly, methodiml, moral, political, toiling existence. I pride myself upon being the- Goddess of watering-places. You really must pay me a visit at Cnidos.' "

I must not leave this amusing skit on the fashionables of the twenties and thirties of the last century without Saying a word or two in regard to Mr. Austen's designs. They are, in my opinion, among the very best things he has done. His colouring is always attractive, but here he has got a vividness and. also a richness of tone, which are sure to win him many admirers. The details both as regards the architecture' decorations and the costumes are closely and successfully studied. The picture of Juno standing with her back to a chimneypiece is true to the Eaton Square type. A French clock on the mantelpiece and a delightful gilded fender and fire- irons at her feet, make up a fascinating picture. Very attrac- tive, too, is the black and white drawing of Diana in a hunting dress—tall hat, cloth riding skirt, bodice with puffed sleeves, and masculine collar and stock. The men's dresses are less successful, but Mercury, Bacchus, and Ganymede in period top hats, baggy trousers, pinched-in waists --- obviously helped by stays — and gold chains across the waist- coats are reminiscent of Dizzy and D'Orsay in their most resplendent days. The printing and general appearance of this fascinating little book are all that could be desired. Let us hope that it is a prelude to other reproductions of Disraeli's minor works. The Infernal Marriage would make an excellent pendant.

J. ST. LOE STRACHEY.