17 FEBRUARY 1877

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NEWS OF THE WEEK.

The Spectator

Tr is understood that the Government will pursue for the I. moment a waiting policy, and that the Opposition will criticise its past conduct rather than directly censure its...

The latest rumours from Berlin signify that Russia and Ger-

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many are fully in accord. The plan arranged, it is reported, is that in the event of complete victory, Russia should obtain a right of free passage through the Bosphorus and...

It is still steadily reported at intervals that Turkey intends

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to make peace with Servia and Montenegro, and nothing can be more gracious than the attitude attributed to Edhem Pasha. He wants nothing, in fact, except that Servia should...

On Thursday, Sir W. Harcourt asked whether Sir Henry Elliot's

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withdrawal from Constantinople after the termination of the Conference was meant as a sign of displeasure, such as Lord Derby, in his despatch of the 5th October, intimated that...

The Government have, of course, been freely interrogated this week

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on the Eastern Question. On Monday, Mr. Evelyn Ashley asked what steps had been taken by the Turkish Government in the way of complying with Lord Derby's demand for the punish-...

The stream of explanations which followed Midhat's fall has not

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yet stopped. By far the most probable one is that he had checked the flow of money to the Palace, dismissing his Finance Minister in particular, for honouring the Sultan's order...

Ve The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

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The first making division of the Session has been taken

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by Mr. Fawcett. He moved on Tuesday that the Select Committee of Inquiry into Indian Finance should be reappointed. The Govern- ment resisted, alleging that the inquiry proposed...

The judgment of the Common Pleas Division in the Lisbon

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Tramways case was delivered on Monday, by Lord Coleridge. His lordship decided that the plaintiff, a shareholder named Twycross, had a full right to recover damages from Baron...

Mr. Cross's Bill transferring the control of local prisons from

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the Justices to the Home Office passed its second reading on Thursday, by 279 to 69. The majority of Members found, as we anticipated last year, that their constituents wished...

The Porte has forwarded a Circular to its Ambassadors upon

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the proceedings of the Conference. This document, which is drawn with remarkable skill, and signed by Safvet Pasha, bases the refusal of the Porte to accept the propositions...

The annual report of the Irish Church Temporalities Commis- sion

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has appeared, and contains what the Commissioners believe to be an accurate calculation of the probable surplus, after all charges are paid. They estimate that if accounts are...

Mr. Samuelson was sharply snubbed by Sir Stafford Northcote on

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Tuesday night, for asking whether the contents of the tele- graphic despatch of Lord Augustus Loftus announcing the Czar's pacific declarations, had been communicated to Lord...

The Times' correspondent in Rome states thatthe Pope is desirous

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of calling the Vatican Council together once more, and has asked the Cardinals' opinion as to the advisability of the project. The Cardinals, it is stated, are opposed to the...

The Daily News of Friday publishes a telegram from Rome

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stating that the Pope is dangerously ill, and that a secret meeting of Cardinals has been held. Reports about the Pope's health always require confirmation, but this one may be...

'Three seats in the House of Commons have recently become

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vacant. Sir E. Antrobus has resigned Wilton, and the seat is sought by Mr. Sidney Herbert, the younger brother of the Earl of Pembroke. Wilton ha always been considered a close...

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The Times' correspondent at Alexandria makes an important announcement. He

The Spectator

states that a Copt living in the province of Menouf, 1873, noticed a cotton-plant in a field which he had not seen before. He planted the seed, and found that the new plant,...

The Government appears unable to rid itself of its fear

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that the Irish Sunday Closing Bill will greatly irritate the population of the large towns, and has accordingly persuaded the supporters of the measure to agree that it should...

Mr. MacColl has made a point against Sir Henry Elliot

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and Consul Holmes, in relation to the discredit which they threw on Dr. Liddon's and his own testimony respecting the impalement on the frontiers of Bosnia. From the nem-...

The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Bill, the second read*

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of which will be moved on Monday night, has been printed, and is, in effect, an amalgamation of the two Bills introduced last year by the Government, with a few not very...

Consols were on Friday 95f to 95g.

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The eminent surgeon, Sir William Fergusson, the greatest of our

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operators, died on Saturday, after a long illness. Sir James Paget,—if not quite his equal as an operator, certainly a surgeon of higher scientific reputation as a physiologist...

Dr. Schliemann, in a new tomb at Myceuw, has discovered

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a ring containing an intaglio containing so beautiful a representa- tion of a group of women near a palm-tree by the sea, and the sun and a crescent moon rising over it, that...

A correspondent writing to the Morning Post of Tuesday, and

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signing himself "Detector," points out rather well how clearly Shakespeare had anticipated in Dogberry Lord Derby's instructions to Lord Salisbury to make the Turk attend to his...

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THE POLICY OF SHILLY-SHALLY.

The Spectator

L ORD DERBY has made a great point of his consistency. As long ago as the 25th of May,—before any clear news of the Bulgarian massacres had reached this country,—as he told Lord...

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Spectator

TEE PARLIAMENTARY SITUATION. T HE Eastern policy of Great Britain will not, we fear, be immediately improved by the opening of Parliament. The majority of Tory Members, it...

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ENGLISH DOCTORS IN FRANCE.

The Spectator

rimE - English and American Colonies in France, and more 1. ' especially in Nice and other invalid resorts, are threat- ened with a heavy blow to their comfort and their peace....

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MR. FAWCETT'S DEFEAT.

The Spectator

ITIHE Public Debt of India is about £120,000,000 sterling, or JL a little less than two-and-a-half years' revenue of the Em- pire, and the interest on it is £6,000,000, or...

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PATENTS FOR INVENTIONS.

The Spectator

E NGLISHMEN have very little regard for Inventors, but they have a great deal of fellow-feeling for them ; and though the two sentiments have nothing in common, the in- ventor...

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THE IDEAL OF OLD AGE.

The Spectator

T HE complete intellectual strength and health retained to the last by Lady Smith, who died at Lowestoft this day fort- night, within three months of the great age of 104, opens...

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RUSSIAN PRIESTS AND NOBLES.

The Spectator

I F Mr. Mackenzie Wallace is right,—and there is no doubt either of his knowledge or his sincerity,—the English idea of the Russian Clergy is singularly incorrect. The popular...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

The Spectator

THE PROPOSED UNIVERSITY CHARTER FOR OWENS CON.EGE. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—The supporters of the proposal to seek for this College the charter of a University...

THE PROPAGANDA OF CAPITALISM.

The Spectator

ms EDITOR OF THE “/SPBOTATOR:1 SIR,—About a year and a half ago you were good enough to insert in your columns a short letter from me, criticising the report of a British...

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CLEVER DOGS.

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Ss,—In the Spectator of the 10th inst. a correspondent describes the purchase of cakes by a clever dog at Greenock. I should like to be...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—When a student at

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Edinburgh, I enjoyed the friendship of a brown retriever, who belonged to a fishmonger in Lothian Street, and who was certainly the cleverest dog I have ever met with. He was a...

THE "ESTATES OF THE REALM."

The Spectator

(ro THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR") denied that Convocation is one of the Estates of the Realm. Your correspondent, "11. E. B." apparently thinks that I am in error here, because...

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POETRY.

The Spectator

ON A PICTURE BY GIORGIONE. IN THE WINTER EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, NO. 114. BLUE sky, white cloud, sweet depth of Southern air, What shaded, pansy-sprinkled grove is...

[TO VTR EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")

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SIR,—A correspondent favoured your readers last week with an interesting anecdote of a dog's intelligence in reference to the use of money. Permit me to relate an instance of a...

MR. MORRIS'S "SIGURD."

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It is true that the lines you quote from " Sigurd,"— " The young king rendeth apart The old guile by the guile encompassed, the heart...

"HOLY ORIGINALS."

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—..Your enlightened correspondents, Professor Clifford and "A., "have been poking their fun at the Bishop who regarded the Authorised...

BOOKS.

The Spectator

"THE DUBLIN" ON INTOLERANCE OF RELIGIOUS ERROR.* THERE is a very able paper, and one of much interest from more than one point of view, in the Dublin Review of January, on the...

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RAJAH BROOKE.*

The Spectator

Miss JACOB must have been met by a somewhat difficult problem on the threshold of her work. The story she had to tell is on one side the most romantic, on the other, perhaps,...

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TURKISH SATRAPS IN ASIA AND EGYPT.*

The Spectator

Mn. Jortx BARKER, who had received a business training in the office of Mr. Thellusson, the "millionaire" banker, went to Con- stantinople apparently about the end of last...

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THE DEPRIVED BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER.*

The Spectator

This most fascinating biography was written shortly after the death of its subject, by a member of the Bishop's household, who "wrote these papers on purpose to keep his...

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STUDIES IN ENGLISH ART.*

The Spectator

Is this volume Mr. Wedmore discourses of Gainsborough, Mor- land, Wheatley, Reynolds, Stothard, Flaxman, Girtin, Crome, Cotman, Turner, De Wint, Mason, and Walker, devoting a...

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THE CRIMEA AND TRANSCAUCASIA.*

The Spectator

THE impression which one can hardly help having at first of this work is that it is suspiciously well "got-up." The beauty of the type, the gloss of the paper, the number and...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

The Spectator

The Law of Literature. 2 vols. By John Appleton Morgan. (Cockcroft and Co., New York. London : Sampson Low and Co.)—These two stout volumes, containing together more than twelve...

The Dramatic Works of Moliete. Translated into English by Henri

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Van Lann. Vol. V. (Edinburgh : William Paterson.)—This fifth volume contains two of the more celebrated of Moliere's plays, L'Avare and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and three minor...

Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States

The Spectator

during its First Century. By Charles Lanman. (Washington, U.S.; Anglinn.)—This is a large octavo of nearly seven hundred pages, closely printed in doable columns, containing the...

The Owl's Nest in the City. By Edward Level. (Henry

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S. King and Co.)—The writer, who adopts as a nom de plume the name of one of the characters of his story, certainly has constructed a tragedy which would have commended itself...

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The Tragedy of Israel: King Saul, King David, King Solomon.

The Spectator

By Professor G. F. Armstrong. (Longmans.)—These three volumes, the first of which appeared in 1872, the second in 1874, and the third in the course of last year, have, we may...

Latin without Tears. By the Author of "Peep of Day."

The Spectator

(Hatchard.) —This book is based on tho principle, undoubtedly sound in the case of young learners, of teaching little by little. 'One word a day" is the alternative title, and...

Valentines. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—Among the elaborate and fanciful devices

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that at this season express, or gracefully insinuate, the annual de- votion of innumerable votaries at the shrine of St. Valentine, few, if any, exceed those of Marcus Ward and...

Messrs. Roberts Brothers, Boston, United States, are publishing what they

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call a No-Name Series, to consist of works of fiction, with a certain admixture of poetry,—" anonymous poems from famous hands," as the publishers put it. Critics are thus put...

Sir Guy's Ward. By Gerald Glyn. 3 vols. (Tinsley Brothers.)--

The Spectator

When a young lady, beautiful beyond description, comes to be the ward of a guardian who is very like a Van-Dyck portrait of a Spanish noble, it is not difficult to see what is...

Mr. Thomas W. Morsman continues his translation of The Great

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Commentcay of Cornelius a Lapide. (Hodges.)—The second volume now before as contains the comments on St. Matthew's Gospel x.-xxi. Mr. Morsman explains in his preface that he is...