THE FASHIONABLE ANNUALS.

YirE have received a trio of the larger and more aristocratic Annuals, in one parcel, from one publisher, and we believe emanating from one speculator—The Picturesque, The Keepsake, and The Book of Beauty. Of these, The Picturesque alone has any claim to distinct- ness of purpose or singleness of character : but we doubt whether the present volume sustains the character of its predecessors, either in variety or power of amusement. This falling-off is attributable to the choice of the subject, and not to any demerit in the writer. The Picturesque began, we be- lieve, with a journey to St. Petersburg, by RITCHIE ; in which the incidents and ever-changing scenery of a rapid land-tour through a part of Europe still semibarbarous—the observations of a shrewd and practised author, on a city not fully described, and which ap- peared to him in all the glare of novelty—the personal adventures in which he was engaged or engaged himself, together with his pas- sing remarks on strange manners—all united in giving the reality of a book of travels to The Picturesque, without losing its Annual character. A similar design was followed, with more or less success, for some years : but either good tour-grounds were exhausted, or a change came over the spirit of the proprietors ; and the effect of the change is a diminution of value. The subject of the present volume is " Paris in 1841," with views illustrating the most prominent features of the city, by ALLom and Monsieur Laut ; no less a writer than Mrs. GORE un- dertaking the letterpress. But what can even her pungent wit and buoyant style do in following an artist from buildings to streets and from streets to buildings, in order to say " something" about them which shall read connectedly ? The very circumstances of her long sojourn in Paris, that would appear to tell in her favour, in reality make against her. A competent person, who had never been in Paris before, would have conveyed a more vivid idea of the French capital, than one whose perceptions have become blunted by long habitude ; if he might not have been able to arrange his course so skilfully, to point out the antiquities and curiosities of the place so well, to add a passing history to each building, or to exhibit glances, though few and transient, of Parisian life and character. Mrs. GORE'S plan is a sort of stroll or tour : whether she fol- lowed the artists, or the plates are arranged to correspond with her letterpress, does not appear. But she begins with the Rue de la Pais, and the Place Vendome; whence she conducts her readers to the most conspicuous objects, the most delightful pleasure- points, and the scenes most striking in themselves or their asso- ciations; commenting upon and describing each as she goes along. Little superior to a " guide " or "picture" of Paris, in substance, Mrs. GORE'S contribution to the Picturesque Annual will be chiefly useful to the visiter of that city ; who, if he has leisure enough to emancipate himself from the short-cut services of a valet de place, cannot perhaps do better than tread in Mrs. GORE'S footsteps. Whether the volume will possess attraction enough to rouse the languid and listless readers of a boudoir, may be questioned. Here are samples of the more life-like parts.

OFFERINGS TO NAPOLEON'S COLUMN.

During the epoch of the Restoration, it was replaced by a fleur-de-lis and the drapeau blanc of the Bourbons. But one of the earliest measures of the present King of the French was to restore to this national monument the crowning trophy indispensable to its completeness, in the form of a new statue of Napoleon. On the 29th July 1833, the present bronze figure was inaugu- rated. It is the work of Seurre ; and represents the Emperor in the costume most familiar to the soldiery, the redingotte grise of his campaigns. The figure is eleven feet high; and has a life-like effect when viewed under the brightness of the morning sun, approaching it from the gardens of the Tuileries. An old corporal, one of the relics of the Grande Armee, had the office of exhibiting the column to visiters, as " Capitaine de la Colonne," and furnish- ing the lantern necessary for the ascent. Great is the pride of the veteran, when, on the anniversaries of great victories or the birthday of the Emperor, a new collection of garlands of immortelles is thrown at tho foot of the column. On some of these occasions, the whole palisades surrounding it are covered before daybreak with emblematical crowns ; and nothing is more com- mon than to see a provincial or even peasant, on first arriving in Paris, make his offering to the colonne as an altar of national glory. On the other hand, like our own Monument, the column of the Place VendOme occasionally ob- tains a melancholy notoriety from the madness of some unfortunate person, intent upon committing suicide in a public manner. Precautions have, how- ever, been adopted to prevent the recurrence of these terrible catastrophes.

THE THAMES AND THE SEINE.

There is scarcely a stronger point of contrast between Paris and London than their respective rivers: the magnificent Thames, with all its commercial associations, presenting, perhaps, the most active thoroughfare of London ; the Seine, navigable only for small craft—wood-rafts or wine-barges from Bur- gundy, or cargoes of corn, paving-stones, or manufactured goods from Nor- mandy—exhibiting only a couple of diminutive steam-boats, in place of the hundreds constantly in transit on the Thames and crowning its waters with a perpetual canopy of smoke.

THE COUNTRY OF FARM

One of the great charms of Paris, as a metropolitan residence, consists in the peculiarly rural character of the environs. Up to the very gates of the city, the country is really country ; and within view of the exterior Boulevards small farms are carrying on their agricultural operations with all the rude sim- plicity of our remote counties. Instead of the ten miles of villas and London- ized hamlets surrounding our metropolis, the student walks out from the Pays Latin to watch the progress of the harvest, or from the Quartier des Invalides proceeds to botanize in the woods of Meudon or Vincennes. This is again partly the result of the absence of coal-smoke. It is well known that many species of flowers (the yellow rose, for instance) will not blossom within ten miles of London; Paris, on the contrary, produces the finest flowers, not alone in the royal gardens of the Tuileries and Luxembourg, but in the nursery-grounds of the famous rose-growers Noisette and Laffay, which in the Faubourg !it. Germain enjoy advantages such as it would be necessary to retreat many miles from London to secure.

In the older portions of Paris every house of note has its garden ; and it is sometimes startling, in a narrow, gloomy, obscure street, to perceive at the ex- tremity of a long passage a grove of green acacias, or one of those gaudy flower■ plots which the dry and sunny climate clothes with such brilliant colours.

TRADESPEOPLE OF PARIS.

The French tradespeople are punctual and orderly.They give no credit, and they give no trouble ; assuming to themselves the independence of a dis- tinctive class, indifferent to the affairs and gossip of their betters, but taking s lively interest in politics, as the presiding influence of their fortunes. The domestic life of this order of French society is characterized by the utmost re- gularity and virtue.

LIVING IN LONDON AND PARIS.

The comparative expenses of London and Parisian housekeeping are often discussed. It is probable that persons of very small or very large fortunes gain by a residence in the French capital ; while those of moderate income

have greater advantages in England. The luxuries of life are incomparably cheaper in Paris ; and though an income of 1,00W. or 2,000/, per annum may accomplish the same position in either capital, 4,000/. a year in France us equal to 10,000/. in England. This arises in a great measure from their stationary habits, from the smaller number of servants composing a great establishment, and from the inferior manner in which they are accommodated. The upper servants absorb half the expense required by those of the English aristocracy. The stables and equipages also, so costly in England, are of less importance. Public amusements, such as the French and Italian operas, are less expen- sive, and enjoyed with greater moderation; and the fetes of the French, though brilliant as regards illumination, are of a more economical order than our own. There is less prodigality, less ostentation ; no forced fruits or exotic flowers; no "chickens' wings for half the town " ; but simply good music in a well- lighted series of rooms, with plenty of ices for refreshment, and bouillon for support. The boll-rooms of Paris arc consequently secure from that vora- cious class of the community which till supper-time encumber the dancing- rooms of London.

There would not be much to say of The Keepsake and The Book of Beauty if they were new to the world : what can be said when they are old ? They are both edited by Lady BLESSINGTON ; both display an intermixture of prose and verse, the prose for the most part consisting of tales ; and both exhibit a goodly list of fashion- able contributors, mingled with a few regular writers, and some amateurs whom we know not how to rank. Of the two, we incline to prefer The Keepsake for its tales, which read glibly, but leave no impression behind them : this preference, however, is not a matter we would dispute upon ; as Falstaff says of Poins and Prince Hal, "the weight of a hair would turn the scale of their avoirdupois." The poetry is not very striking ; but in The Keepsake "The Doom of Cheynholme," by Miss THEODOSIA GARROW, displays some power ; though more space is bestowed upon subordinate than principal subjects, and the writer has imitated the wildness and Irregular metre of COLERIDGE rather too closely. In The Book of Beauty there are some lines "To the Genius of the Place," by the Marquis WELLESLEY, which will attract attention for their author : they are, as might be expected, polished, just in thought, classical, but not poetical—they have all of poetry but the vivida viz.

The art of these superb volumes is of kindred merit to the lite- rature: there is nothing in the designs to invite a second look, and the engravings are slightly though neatly and smoothly executed. Mr. ALnoat's scenes in Paris that illustrate The Picturesque Annual, are clever as architectural views—well-drawn, and generally cor- rect—but not distinguished by those characteristic traits in the ac- cessorial details that recal the spirit of the place : for instance, the trees in the garden of the Palais Royal flourish in unpruncd luxu- riance in the plate, instead of clipped so as to form artificial bowers. M. Lames share in the illustrations is limited to three characteristic groups of Parisian fashionables, among the vignettes ; which outnumber the larger plates. The Keepsake cannot boast of a rich selection of subjects : the only indications of original character are two pleasing studies of an English mountain-child, and an Italian peasant-girl, by P. F. POOLE. CArrsamords masterly picture of an old armourer has lost too much of its power in the engraving ; and F. STONE'S "Lady Jemima " is only a finished study of costume. The designs by Messrs. E. Coasomn and W. KEELING are clever, but conven- tional; and the same may be said of the interior by ROBERTS. CRESWICK'S lovely scene on the Hudson, bathed in a flood of sunlight, conveys such an idea of American river-scenery as makes one wonder that no artist of eminence should have culled some of its romantic beauties.

The portraits of fashionable ladies in The Book of Beauty in- clude only one of ALFRED CrIALoN's ideal creations of millinery— Ms graceful but meretricious picture of the Princess of CArtiA ; whom he has represented as an exalted personage in a literal sense, for, judging of the proportions of the whole pyramid of silk and embroidery by the apex, the goddess should be ten feet high. F. GRANT'S thinking likeness of Miss FORESTER, and W. FISHER'S speaking profile of Miss Bmon, her face lighted up by a noon- day atmosphere, are the chief attractions, to our taste. JOHN 1-TATTER'S drawings are too mannered to put faith in as likenesses ; and Mr. W. DRUMMOND'S beauties give one the notion of patterns for doll-makers to work from—Queen VICTORIA being a specimen of the doll-royal. Mr. PARTRIDGE has made Mrs. DENNISTOUN dancing a real wax doll.