15 JANUARY 1876

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• The Marshal's proclamation is a remarkable document, pene- trated

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throughout with the Napoleonic twang. It is addressed to "Frenchmen," rind tells them that they are summoned, for the first time in five years, to take part in a general...

Two remarkable incidents of the Prince of Wales's progress through

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India are recorded this week. One was the laying of the foundation-stone of the memorial which Lord Northbrook is erecting in Lucknow, at his own expense, to the native soldiers...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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P OLITICAL circles in Paris have been agitated by a Ministerial 1 crisis. According to the accounts which seem to us least con- fused, M. Buffet took umbrage, or more probably,...

The English Government has not yet accepted Count Andrassy's Note

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to the Turkish Government on the reforms to be made in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, and it is reported that the Note must first be discussed at a Cabinet Council, which will not...

The American Democrats are showing their old tendency to be

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governed entirely by Southerners. Their first step, now that they are in possession of the House of Representatives, has been to propose an Amnesty Bill for all...

Sir W. Harcourt made his third speech to his constituents

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at Oxford on Monday. He appears to have had for his first object to increase Liberal confidence in Lord Hartington. He bade his party beware of the dealers in programmes, "...

* * * The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

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The remain der of Sir W. Harcourt's speech was in

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the same spirit, though he only once again referred to Lord Harlington. To suppose that such a man, he said, would invent a policy merely to secure office was "to insult the...

The dispute between Austria and Hungary threatens to become serious.

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Nominally, it is about the right of the Hungarians to establish a National Bank at Buda-Pesth whose notes shall be legal tender on this side of the Leitha. The Hungarians...

The Bishop of Winchester has written a very strong letter

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in. favour of comprehension as the true policy of the Church of England, as opposed to mere alliance with the Protestant sects ; and the letter, which is addressed to Mr....

A little light upon the liquor question. At a meeting

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of the Church of England Temperance Society, held at Liver- pool on Tuesday, and addressed by the Archbishop of York, it was mentioned by speaker after speaker that there was...

Mr. Plimsoll addressed his constituents at Derby on Monday, in

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a speech which, knowing his own tendency to be carried away by enthusiasm, he had reduced to writing. It scarcely admits, therefore, of condensation, but one main point was the...

The contest for Dorsetshire is becoming interesting. Mr. Hambro has

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retired, and the contest now lies between the Hon. E. Digby, who represents the landlords, and Mr. Fowler, who- represents the tenant-farmers. Both gentlemen are Conservatives,....

Mr. Burns, "the largest owner of merchant shipping in the

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world," proposes that lighthouse dues should be abolished, and shipping taxed, say, 3d. per ton, for the maintenance of ten training-ships, with 300 boys in each, which would...

It is quite possible that the great exertions recently made

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by Mr. Robeson, Secretary to the American Navy, to increase the ironclad fleet, and the orders to make the Home Squadron the- strongest squadron in the American service, are...

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The Athenaeum states that a poem has been forwarded to

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London from India, and will shortly be published, in which the author, a Canarese scholar, not only apostrophises the Prince of Wales as an Avatar, but declares that he shall...

What tact some of these Irishmen have ! Mr. Pope

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Hennessy, the new Governor of Barbadoes, has had, like every other Governor, to receive an address from the Bishop and his clergy. The address was presented, and as it asked...

It would appear that women have always had a legal

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right to obtain a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons authorising them to practise in midwifery. The College has been advised that a clause in its Charter was expressly...

One of the many difficulties which will beset any attempt

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to elect the House of Commons by equal electoral districts is the size of London. There is no principle, except the historic one, on which London can be refused a representation...

Mr. E. Carleton Tufnell, Inspector of Schools, objects alto- gether

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to the replacing of the ' Goliath ' and Warspite.' He says ships for training-schools are a mistake altogether. They have not room enough, are badly adapted for sanitary pur-...

Mr. C. S. Read made a speech at Harleston on

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Wednesday, avowedly in answer to the Spectator's article upon his retirement. He was good-natured enough, though evidently hurt, but as he stated that he had entered the...

aft -characteristic of him. It was his chief amusement during

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his last illness to muse over a collection of the cat icatures of himself which had been published during his reign and after his fall. The writer thinks he was so miserable,...

Meetings against the new Slave Circular are being held all

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over the country, but the speakers all make the mistake into which Mr. George Dixon has fallen at Birmingham. He says the Government, instead of reminding Naval officers that...

Consols were at the latest data 931 to 93f.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE MORALITY OF PIECE-WORK. I T is weary work, but once again we must try to point out to a great body of English workmen that they are trying to attain an end which may be...

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THE CABINET CRISIS IN FRANCE. T ITERFI have always been Ministers

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in France whom the very Gods could not save, and M. Buffet is one of them. There never was such a piece of gratuitous political folly, such an instance of what Scripture calls...

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SIR W. HARCOURT'S THIRD SPEECH.

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TI TrIIERE is more connection than may at first be thought HERE the second and third of Sir William Harcourt's speeches at Oxford. The party to which he belongs and the city...

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THE PRINCE'S PROGRESS.

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THERE are a good many extraordinary facts in the long history of the Times newspaper, but one of the most per- plexing of them is this. Every now and then the Times pub- lishes...

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The lower classes of English do not consider previous con-

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viction an aggravation of guilt, though they do hold that THE COUNTRY MAGISTRACY. a man of bad character should be punished more than a new offence. To them the Torquay Chairman...

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SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY TEACHING.

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W HEN a public writer is censured by critics who take ground on diametrically opposite sides, and who blame him for faults that contradict each other, there is some excuse for...

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LORD AMBERLEY.

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L ORD AMBERLEY was not thirty-four when he died, he had never held office, he had failed, on the whole, in political life, and be had not succeeded in any other career; but...

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POLITICS AND THE STAGE.

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M R. DION BOUCICAULT'S clever letter to Mr. Disraeli is probably more seriously meant than most of his English critics give him credit for. It has an unreal note in it for Eng-...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE SCOTTLSH UNIVERSITIES. [TO TER EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Stn,—Your anonymous correspondent " Scotia " seems to have read my letter to very little purpose. 1. He...

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MR. MACCOLL.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." am sure you will allow me to explain more explicitly what I meant by charging the Court, in the Purchas case, with " twisting " its evidence....

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The suggestion thrown out

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in your article of January 1, that a right should be vested in a mayor, or in churchwardens, • &c., "allowing them to forbid any ceremonies which might seem offensive to public...

THE CLERGY AND THE CHURCHYARDS.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THZ SPECTETOR."] SIR, —When your correspondent the Rev. E. V. Hall contends that, because the churchyards are national, only the national Burial Service...

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CHRISTIANITY AND THE FEAR OF DEATH.

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[To TRH EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Srn,—In the article with which you honoured me last week, there- are, at least, one or two points on which you have misunderstood me. You...

"LITERARY TRIFLERS."

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[To THE ED/TOR OV TAN "SPROTATOR.1 Sru,—At the risk of seeming perhaps a little too sharp on the writer of a short and not unkind notice of my book on Con- ditional Immortality...

FORESIGHT IN CHESS.

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[To THR EDITOR OT THE "SPR0TAT0R.1 Sin,—While agreeing in the main with your thoughtful article on this subject, allow me to suggest that it scarcely expresses the whole truth....

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THE MEANING OF THE EPITHET "BARBARIC." go THE EDITOR OF

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THE "SPECTATOR."] - Sin,—Your correspondent "H. N. H.," in his letter of last week, does not appear to dispute that in the passage quoted from the second book of "Paradise...

CHINESE AT THE CAPE.

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(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.') Sza,—The following is part of the summary of news in this day's Northern "Whig :—" The Government of the Cape Colony has offered £.7 for...

BOOKS.

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FEARS FOR DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA.* Tuts is a book full of puzzles and contradictions, both in style and matter, indeed it is often hard to believe it the work of one man. Take the...

THE TOLLEMACHE PEDIGREE.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Stu,—With reference to the letter in your last impression, signed -" M. P. F. G.," I beg to say that your article of the let inst., on the...

ETERNAL PERDITION.

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(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—In your courteous notice of an article of mine in the current Contemporary Review, you speak of my "defence of eternal per- dition,...

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THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS.* THE performance of this volume

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falls short of the promise of its title-page, which leads the reader to expect "the description of the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Deluge, the Tower of Babel.% the times of...

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HOMES OF THE LONDON POOR.*

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MR8. BROWNING did not hold the creed that "Washing seven times in the 'People's Baths' Is sovereign for the people's leprosy," nor do we think Miss Octavia Hill would by any...

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GAIRDNER'S LANCASTER AND YORK.*

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WE have here a very good example of the fashionable plan of writing historical handbooks for special periods. Mr. Gairdner is a thorough student, who writes out of the fullness...

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BIRCH'S "ANCIENT POTTERY." * WE welcome this new edition of

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Dr. Birch's Ancient Pottery, for the two volumes of the original work, though a most valuable addition to archaeological literature, of which England is by no means prolific,...

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A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DRAMATIST.* AMONG recent critics, the name of Riehard

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Brome has received little notice except in casual conjunction with Ford, Heywood, and others, to whom he gave some assistance in the composition of The Lancashire Witches. He...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Portfolio — January. (Seeley and Co.)—By some mischance, we did not receive the Porifblio in time for an earlier notice. It deserves the warmest and most immediate greeting...

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The Popular Idol. By William Mackay. 2 vols. (Bentley.)—This is

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a very amusing book. Every Englishman will laugh at it, and we hope that our Irish friends will have the good-sensa to laugh at it too. The "popular idol" himself, Mr. Murphy,...

The Might and Mirth of Literature. By J. W. V.

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Macbeth. (Samp- son Low.)—Very good poetry and very good prose were written long before grammarians formalised the rules of prosody and syntax. Yet the grammarians undoubtedly...

The Shadow of Erksdale. By Boulton Marshall. 3 vols. (Samuel

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Tinsley.)—The " Shadow " is the fact that the squire of Erksdalo is largely in debt to a certain Dr. Aungier, from whom his father had borrowed a considerable sum of money. The...

Animal Life Throughout the Globe. (T. Nelson and Sons.)—A book

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on natural history, which divides animals, birds, and fishes into their geographical-distribution, instead of orders and families, is a novelty, and one we do not care about...

Elementary Biology. By Professor Huxley and Dr. Martin. (Mac- millan

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and CO.)—The dry bones of former scientific teaching in our schools have been during the last few years gradually clothed with living flesh. The deterrent, uninteresting details...

A History and Handbook of Photography. By G. Tissandier. Edited

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by J. Thomson, F.R.G.S. (Sampson Low and Co.)—The universality of the art of photography tends to lessen our wonder at the great stride of science which it presupposes. Its...

Musical Form and General Composition. By the Rev. Sir F.

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A. Gore Ouseley. Bart., Musical Doctor. (Oxford Clarendon Press.)—Many think that, having studied the art of harmony and counterpoint, they know all that is requisite for...

A Widow of Windsor. By Annie Gaskell. (Samuel Tinsley.)—A widow

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on the title-page of a novel always frightens us. Novelists choose to connect them with vulgar scheming, just as the classical poets connected stepmothers with ideas of cruelty...

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NEW EMTIONS. — The Dialogues of Plato. Translated into English, With Analyses

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and Introductions, by B. Jewett, M.A. 5 vols. (The Clarendon Press.) "The prefaces to the Dialogues," says Mr. Grote, in his preface to the second edition, "have been enlarged,...