THE MINOR MAGAZINES.
The Cornhill for July is thoroughly readable from the first page to the last, from the admirable poem in which Mr. Ernest Myers sings the praises of Alfred of England as "Type eternal of true English worth," to the latest instalment of Mr. Stanley Weyman's genuinely and not conventionally exciting story of "Count Hannibal." There is shrewdness of different but equally valuable kinds in Mr. George Yard's "Investment and Speculation" and the paper in which Mrs. Earle explains how to make the most of ..£1,800 a year. Mr. Fitchett's talent as, in Bagehot's phrase, "a special correspondent for posterity" is well illustrated by the paper in which he retells the story of Lucknow. Mr. Frank Bullen is seen at his best as an artist in his "Lost and Found " ; and Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, in her "The Making of a Marchionees," skilfully "develops" her portrait of Lord Waiderhurst, a stoical, silent, "straight" English gentleman armed with a monocle. There are some good stories of notabilities in "Notes of an Octogenarian," such as that told of Sydney Smith, who visited Macaulay when he was ill of quinsy and found him "suffering from suppressed conversation."—Variety and average literary quality are the special features of the new number of Chambers's Journal, which contains papers on such widely different subjects as "Some Curiosities of the Civil List," "The Ethics of Luck," and "The Basuto at Home." Mr. Poultney Bigelow has much that is inter- esting to say in "Colonial Methods of Spain," and Mr. H. W. Lucy is, for him, wonderfully tame and commonplace in his description of the Isle of Tha.net in "A Quaint Corner of England." " Boden Garrett, Spy," is one of the best stories of the American Civil War that we have ever read. —Cassell's Magazine for July will doubtless be read mainly for "Kim," in which Mr. Kipling is undoubtedly seen at his best as a novelist. It also contains a number of good short stories—Mr. Richard Davey's "The Man in Blue" is the most finished—and of miscellaneous articles of more than average excellence.—" A Sussex Pepys " is the outstand- ing article in the new number of the Gentleman's Magazine. It is an account of Thomas Turner, a country tradesman who kept a diary for some years during the second half of the eighteenth century, and who was almost as self-conscious as Pepys himself. Of the other papers in a very varied number, "The Anticipated Scarcity of Timber" and "Sources of West Pyrencean Law" are the most notable.—The Empire Review is evidently to discharge a useful function by presenting in a convenient form opinion and information upon all aspects of Imperialism. How wide are the interests covered by that word may be judged by the fact that the July number contains articles on the Education Bill and cricket reform. "Postal Cable Development," "The Foreign Office from Within," and "Canadian Voyageurs" are among the best articles in this number. The hostility of Transvaalers to Free Staters is emphasised in a very readable and dispassionate paper on "A Boer Refugee Camp," by Mr. H. S. Caldecott, civil commandant in the camp at Howick, in Natal.—There are very many thoughtful, and therefore valuable, papers in the new issue of the International Journal of Ethics, such as Mr. Bray's earnest, if viewy, "Unity of Spirit as the Basis of a National Church" and Mr. W. P. Ker's "Imagination and Judgment," and at least one amusing article on "Ethics and the Weather," by Professor Dexter, of the University of Illinois. From the personal point of view, however, the outstanding paper is "A Democratic Philosopher and his Work," by Mr. Charles M. Bakewell, of the University of California. It is a lucid and appreciative survey of the enthusiasms, aspirations, and work of Thomas Davidson, that remarkable Aberdonian and knight-errant of scholarahip and thought whose too little known achievements and personal character were characterised in the Spectator at the time of his death in the autumn of last year.—There is a growing tendency to make the United Service Magazine a forum for the discussion of such important " Service " questions as "Musketry and Disci- pline." This has its advantages no doubt. We confess, however, to a preference for the non-controversial articles. Of these the most informing and readable in the July number is "An Outpost of the Empire,"—a breezy account of Walfish Bay.—The new number of the Badminton Magazine is only an average one. There are several interesting papers, such as "Swordsmanship in Eng- land" and "Notes on Sport in Sardinia," but there is none of outstanding interest or piquancy. Madame Ronner's illustra- tions of "The Torpid and the Ill-bred Cat" are better than the letterpress.—Crampton's Magazine is now a general miscel- lany, and not, as at first, a collection of stories. The " novelettes " are still the best of its contents, however. The holiday descriptive papers which are to be found in the July number are too obviously padding ; whereas force and originality mark Mr. J. E. Patterson's "Carrying the Faithful" and Miss Thurston's "The Hinges of Love."—Probably no magazine of the day—certainly none intended for boys—so "fizzes with life," as the author of "Stalky and Co." would say, as the Captain. So far from falling off, it is livelier than ever. The July number contains, besides two continued school stories, a great amount of information on sports of all kinds. "The Long 'Un's Duel" is one of the most "real" stories of the South African War that has been published. "Mr. Tracy's Snap-Shot" is equally lively.—The Expository Times resembles the Captain in this — though in this only — that it always keeps up to a high level of literary excellence in its particular line. Thus the July number covers nearly the whole ex- egetical field. The papers that are most likely to in- terest laymen are Professor Findlay's "Christ's Name for the Holy Spirit" and Mr. H. A. Kennedy's "Recent Research in the Language of the New Testament."—There are several in- teresting articles and notes in the new quarterly issue of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society ; the Census returns of this country, and of India in particular, are effectively treated. Of most value at the present time is the contribution on "The Results of State, Municipal, and Organised Private Action in the Housing of the Working Classes," by Dr. Sykes, of Edinburgh. It is most exhaustive. Of scarcely less practical utility is the discussion which followed the reading of the paper.
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