T HE German Government has formally denied any intention of exchanging Kiao-chow for Samsah or any other place in China, and appears indeed to have obtained all its demands from...

A PLAN FOR ARMY REFORM. T HE interest excited by the proposals for Army reform remains as great as ever. Almost every recent public speech touches on the problem in some form or...

W AS it altogether a joke ? The story, which is not denied as other incidents of the same conversa- tion have been, is that the Emperor William IL, talking recently to Count...

the latest news from India which are extremely satisfactory. One is the be- haviour of the troops, who, in the regular English way, have been hardened instead of softened by...

all thinking men who wish to see the nations govern them- selves rely as their instrument for that purpose, is getting itself discredited on the Continent. In Germany it shows...

ANY of us can still recall the feeling of apprehen- IV which arose and spread throughout England when Professor Jevons published a generation ago his work on "The Coal...

come to the end that has from the first been expected. The Marquis di Rudini and Signor Zanardelli had a bargain to drive, and the object of each was to discover how much the...

T HE question of how far secrecy ought or ought not to be employed in public affairs is just now occupy- ing a considerable share of public attenizon. Though no one, of course,...

p ERHAPS the most interesting thing about Mr. Pod- more's very interesting volume of psychical studies just published by Messrs. Kegan Paul is the evidence it affords of a new...

L ORD CHARLES BERESFORD in his scathing speech to the New Vagabonds' Club, reported in the Daily Chronicle of Saturday, expressed an idea which one nowadays "wars on every side...

r: county of Surrey has almost declared war upon the ipsies. Last year the County Council passed a series of by-laws against not only the gipsies, but all dwellers in vans and...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:9 Sir.,—The Tilford Oak, near Farnham, has long been regarded as one of the glories of Surrey. It is a pain, therefore, to learn from the Globe...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."' Sin,—In your sympathetic reference in the Spectator of November 27th to the injurious effects of fur-pulling on the workers, there is one...

BURKE AND "JACK-IN-THE-BOX." [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOIt."" SIE,—If readers of your journal desire a further example of Burke's rudeness and abruptness besides those...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPICTATOR:] observe in reviewing my book, "England to an Indian Eye," in the Spectator of December 4th, you have said that it is an "antidote to the...

MR. WATSON'S NEW POEMS.* MR. WILLIAM WATSON'S new volume will not decrease, but increase, his fame as a poet. The question which we have thus answered is the most natural, and...

But for a glory which is shed on thee ; Not only for thy body packed with sweet Of all this world; that cup of violet wine ; That mortal rose sweet in the night of life ; That...

THIS is not, or at least ought not to be, the final Life of Ernest Renan ; though it is written by a devoted friend and admirer with many qualifications, and was planned with...

honour the memory of Hood will rejoice to have at last, what has so long been needed, an edition of his serious and humorous poems worthy of the poet. And it seems peculiarly...

SIR NORMAN LOCKYER is not only an eminently practical, but a thoroughly practised astronomer; yet he is happily one of those scientific men who do not regard as mere...

Muer{ has been written about the University of Cambridge and her Colleges, but hitherto little has been said about the town. This is by no means to be wondered at, for the town...

THE Commander-in-Chiefs grave warning to the Army, that the officer "who is ignorant of modern military history is of little use beyond the rank of Captain," should induce every...

is a very human child, not by any means too clever or good to be real. The chief struggle of her life, as it is depicted here, is to overcome jealousy, and this struggle is well...

GIFT-BOOKS. Master Skylark. By John Bennett. (Macmillan and Co.)— This is a very spirited and picturesque story, A little boy who has a very sweet voice is carried ca by one of...

—This is an extravaganza. George Kirby, destined for Dr. Bradley's school at Sandport, and Sidney Hardy, who is to go to the Grammar School at the same place, meet at the...

Shaw and Co.)—Mr. T. W. Higginson commends this collection of stories to the public, and with very good reason. They are delightful extravagances ; they have no moral except,...

By Maggie Brown. (Cassell and Co.)—The title is somewhat clumsy, it must be allowed. As for the story, it is not easy to say whether it will lease or no. Personally, the writer...

F. Shaw and Co.)—There is something of the old melodrama, which used to live on the Surrey side of the river, about this story of "the days of Richard the Lion-hearted." Put on...

and Co.)—Mrs. Marshall always writes so well as to command readers. But it must be said that this story is of the thinnest kind. There is hardly a story at all. An eccentric...

M. Westover. (Chapman and Hall.)—" Bushy," says the author of this volume, "is real, but she is no longer a little girl." The reader certainly may ask for some such assurance,...

excellent little story of a young man who postpones—indeed, seems to give up—his own life-plans to do his duty for those who are dependent upon him. It is well worked out, and...

—This is the story of how the village of Old Maxham gets its life- boat, and very well told it is. The village is drawn to the life ; the jealousies, pettinesses, and scandals...

feel any great sympathy for the late Mr. Hubert Crackanthorpe's literary methods, but it is impossible to read these studies without admitting his very considerable power of...

Stories of the Coast" have a considerable range of time and place. The first, "The Stranger," takes us to the Kentish coast when Napoleon was threatening England with the Army...

(Longmans and Co.)—The central thesis of Mr. Channing's book, which to a large extent is a useful résumé of the evidence collected by the Royal Commission on Agriculture, is the...

Baldwin (J. M.), Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Develop. ment, cr 8vo (Macmillan) 10/0 Beilby (W.), The Dog in Australia, Svo (Robertson) 21/0 Clark (W.), The...

beginning to appear in considerable numbers, must be mentioned The Post Office London Directory, 1698 (Kelly), of which the ninety-ninth annual edition is now issued. Of this...