The vain and eccentric author of Vathek would doubtless have
been delighted to know that he was remembered a century after his death, and that a zealous admirer had dug up two of his unprinted MSS. and edited them for the delectation of the public. But William Beckford's. The Vision and Liter Feritatis, now introduced by Mr. Guy Chapman (Constable, 18s.), are mere literary curiosities. The one is a fragment of a verbose, dreary and extremely juvenile romance, while the other is a scandalous chronicle of the misalliances of certain noble families. Beckford, who disgraced himself in his youth; could never, despite his inutiense wealth, persuade George III to make him a peer. This lifelong disappointment found vent in this collection of the errors, real or alleged, of the peerage which Beckford longed to join. But the publication of his foolish book can only discredit him still further in the eyes of
posterity. * * * *
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