18 JANUARY 1890

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Mr. Patrick Cumin, C.B., Secretary (i.e., the permanent head) of

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the Education Department of the Privy Council, died rather suddenly last Saturday, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was a very able administrator, whom Mr. Forster...

The little King of Spain has been pronounced convalescent. He

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has not a good constitution, and he was terribly ill ; but children have a marvellous power of recuperation, and he may yet recover strength. Every year of his life is an...

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

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case.

Mr. Bryce is losing his impartiality of tone. His speech

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at Canterbury last Monday might almost have been delivered by Sir Walter Foster. He denied almost all obstruction on the part of the Opposition, except in the case of the Crimes...

The populace of Lisbon is as angry as the populace

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of Turin after Novara, and on Saturday broke the windows of the British Consulate, which has as much to do with the negotia- tions as any British wine-dealer in Portugal. The...

• and Title-Page, i.e., from July 6th to December 28th,

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1889, inclusive.

NEWS OF THE WEEK T ORD SALISBITRY having convinced, himself

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that the Government of Lisbon was playing fast and loose, either out of fear of the Republican Party, or because it could not control its Colonial agents, an ultimatum was on...

NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS.

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With the" SPECTATOR" of Saturday, January 251h, will be issued, gratis, a SPECIAL LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, the outside pages .of which will be devoted to Advertisements....

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Mr. T. W. Russell made a very able speech at

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Nottingham on Tuesday, in answer to the speech delivered by Mr. Parnell in the same town on December 17th. He dealt chiefly with Mr. Parnell's charge that the initial blunder of...

Mr. Henry Fowler, speaking to the electors of East Wolver-

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hampton on Monday, was not nearly so mere a partisan in his tone as Mr. Bryce. His chief endeavour was to show that Mr. Goschen should relieve the pressure on labour rather than...

If the statements made this week as to the pressure

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placed by the French peasantry upon their Deputies are true, France needs a great financier even more than Russia. The Govern- ment has to raise an immense loan in order to fund...

Lord Selborne made an admirable point in his speech at

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Alton on Monday, in reference to Mr. Gladstone's reproach to Lord Hartington and the Liberal Unionists, that by leaving him they had shifted the centre of gravity of the Liberal...

There is in some ways a striking analogy between the

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Russian and Indian Budgets. In both, the Budget has grown in import- ance,—that of Russia having doubled in twenty years, and now approaches £90,000,000; while that of India has...

It is a pity that Lord Derby does not write

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leading articles. What admirable leaders portions of his speeches would make ! Take, for instance, the short speech de- livered at Liverpool on Thursday, a perfect model of...

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Mr. T. C. Baring, who took the chair at a

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Unionist meeting at Stratford on Wednesday evening, expressed a hope, in which we cannot see our way to concur, that when the Home-rule question is settled by the united action...

We regret exceedingly to record the death of Mr. Craig-

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Senor, Member for the Partick District of Lanarkshire, and adviser to the Liberal Unionists of Scotland. Mr. Craig- Seller was not exactly a statesman, but belonged rather to...

A very effective letter, signed " F.R.S.," in Wednesday's Times,

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shows how extremely unlikely it is that the famous "muzzling order" which was adopted first in London at the end of 1885, produced what was called the "splendid suc- cess" of...

The Prussian Parliament was opened on Monday by a message

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from the throne, in which the King mentioned that the relations of Germany to foreign Powers were "on all sides good;" and promised many domestic reforms, such as the lightening...

• The Brazilian Revolution has not been so bloodless as

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Mr. Gladstone imagined. No information is obtainable from Brazilian telegrams on the subject, but the testimony of American merchant captains proves that the rising in Rio on...

Bank Bate, 6 per cent New Consols (2D were on

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Friday 97i to 971.

The most learned of Catholic theologians, Dr. John Joseph Ignatius

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Dollinger, died yesterday week at Munich, at the great age of ninety ; indeed, in another seven weeks he would have completed his ninety-first year, for he wan born on February...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE TEMPER OF FRANCE. T HE English people should not be irritated by the fury of the populace of the Portuguese towns. The lower Portuguese do not know the facts of the African...

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LORD H.A.RTINGTON'S POSITION. T HE fright which the country has had

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about Lord Hartington,—and we believe we may say that it has been a national fright, and not merely a party fright,— brings out into strong relief his unique position. We do...

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DR DOLLINGER.

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rilHERE was something very English in Dr. Dollinger's illogical pertinacity in holding his own position on points of detail, in spite of the inconsistency of that position on...

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THE AMERICAN WORSHIP OF MILLIONA TRES. T HERE is one disadvantage

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in the modern substitution of wealth for birth as the grand claim to social dis- tinction, of which social philosophers do not make quite enough. Birth is incommunicable, and...

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LORD NAPIER OF MAGDALA.

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being an Engineer, and had he, as was intended, commanded a great expedition against Russia in 1878, not a voice would have been raised against the selection. Still, the popular...

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THE DEAN OF PETERBOROUGH'S PROPOSAL.

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I T would be idle to profess any knowledge of what the letter signed by the Dean of Peterborough and Mr. Teignmouth Shore, which we print in another column, really means. A few...

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ATTRACTIVE MELANCHOLY.

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M ISANTHROPIC melancholy, if it be genuinely and not merely superficially misanthropic, is almost always repellent, probably because insatiable selfishness lies at the root of...

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A WORD FOR AMELIA ROPER.

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O UR contemporaries are most of them greatly pleased to record that amidst a thousand actions of tort or breach of contract now set down for trial in the Court of Queen's Bench,...

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CORRESPONDEN CE.

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A COMMENTARY IN AN EASY-CHAIR: io,f,cossroxs ON LITERATURE-CANDOUR IN FICTION-THE MORALS OF ENGLISH SOCIETY-MR. GLADSTONE AND THE LAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS. I WONDER whether the...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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CHURCH EIR,ENICA. LTO THE EDTTOE OF THE " SPECTATOR." J SIR,—The interest which the Spectator has shown in the chief Church questions now pending, leads me to hope that you...

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HUMAN AND DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTAT013."1 Sin,—I gladly acknowledge the conspicuous fairness of the Spectator in opening its columns to replies from those whom it has criticised....

A PERMISSIVE RUBRIC.

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lTo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIRr - YOU state that there would be a complete division of the Church between the High and Low Church parties were a new Ornaments' Rubric...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In reference to your

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article in the Spectator of January 11th on the above subject, will you kindly permit us to make two statements (1.) The paragraphs which appeared in some of the daily papers,...

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WILLIAM DAMPIER.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Referring to the fact of Dampier's marriage having been overlooked in a recently published sketch of the great navigator's life, I...

SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE IN THE PRESS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—One of your correspondents in the Spectator for January 11th, referring to the substitution of "coppersmiths" for " silversmiths " in...

THE DISASTROUS KILCLOONEY EXPERTUTINT.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR. " .. 1 SIR,—In his Nottingham speech, reported in to-day's Times, Mr. T. W. Russell, M.P., supplies interesting details of the failure of Mr....

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BOOKS.

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MR. TRAILL ON STRAFFORD.* THE battle which raged around Strafford in his life has raged round his memory ever since, and on the whole, though the verdict tends to vary with the...

A DOG OBEYING A SUMMONS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

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"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The enclosed may interest you. I received it this morning. I have no doubt Dr. Barford, of Wokingham, would verify it, but I have not the pleasure of his...

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TWO IMPOSSIBLE TALES.*

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BOTH these exceedingly clever stories are failures, and the failure in both is due to the same cause. They are too im- probable. As they are intended to be improbable, and as an...

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ANTON RUBINSTEIN.*

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THE prevailing craze for antedating everything finds one of its least satisfactory outcomes in the practice of compiling biographies of celebrities who are still alive. Such...

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TRAVELS IN THE SHAN STATES.*

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A SOLID book of travel is always welcome, especially when the traveller is a methodical as well as a keen observer, and one not too anxious about his creature-comforts. The...

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SYLVIE AND BRUNO.* .

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THE author whose nom. de plume is " Lewis Carroll" is in the practically unique position of having written a sequel which was quite as good as—if, indeed, not better than the...

OUR HOME IN AVEYRON.* Tam is a pleasant and honest

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book, without any special pretensions to object, arrangement, style, or study. It will be interesting to every one who wishes for a better under- • Our Home in Areyron : with...

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Old Songs. With Drawings by Edwin A. Abbey and Alfred

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Parsons. (Macmillan and Co.)—The songs have appeared from time to time in Harper's Magazine. There are seventeen songs given, among them the old favourites," The Leather...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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GIFT-BOOKS. Epiihalamium. By Mary Matthews Barnes. With Drawings by Dora Wheeler. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.)—This "Wedding Hymn," to give the less ambitions title to be seen on the...

Gentleman Jackson. By H. Frederick Charles. (Religious Tract Society.)—This story

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has a general resemblance to "John Halifax, Gentleman," but nothing that can be called imitation. Edward Jackson is the son of a wretched creature who has once been a...

Lieu - Hearted: the Story of James Hannington Told for Boys and

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Girls. By the Rev. E. C. Dawson. (Seeley and Co.)—There is little to be said about this book. Mr. Dawson wrote the original Life of Bishop Haaanington, and it was generally...

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The Heir of Treh.erne. By the Rev. A. D. Crake.

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(Mowbray.)— Mr. Crake is concerned to show that there were martyrs on the Papal as on the Protestant side in the troubles that ended with the Reformation of the Church of...

The Happiest Christmas. By Edna Lyall. (W. and R. Chambers.)

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—Jack Radcliffe and Joan, his sister, are two quite possible children, with a "great deal of human nature in them," ready to quarrel, and apt to be selfish ; in short, a long...

Folly: a New - Fashioned Girl. By L. T. Meade. (Cassell and

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Co.)—This is a clever and entertaining story, with plenty of fun and seriousness in it. Polly is a young lady with a very con- siderable amount of self-confidence ; and the...

Scribner's Magazine. (Scribner's Sons, New York ; Warne and Co.,

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London.)—It is sufficient to say that the second half-yearly volume for the current year is as good as its predecessors. The magazines of to-day run such a close race with each...

Florence : a Story of Beginnings. By Alice Weber. (Routledge

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and Sons.)—This "story of beginnings" might have been called the "story of a boy-and-girl friendship." Florence and her sister pay a visit to an aunt, who charges herself with...

The Line of Beauty. By Emma Marshall. (Home Words Office.)

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—This is a very slight tale. There is a doubt whether the barony and the estates of Pierpoint go to a certain young lady, or to a clergyman who has been ordained under an alias,...

Funny Friends. (Ernest Nister.)—The comic animals of this little book

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are portrayed by Mr. G. H. Thompson in a quite admirable way. We have seen nothing better of the kind this year, or, indeed, for many years past. The fox serenading the goose is...

On Active Service. By W. W. Lloyd. (Chapman and Hall.)—

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In twenty coloured drawings, executed with plenty of spirit, Mr. Lloyd, who has been himself a soldier, portrays various experiences, grave and gay, of campaigning. We begin...

The Sunday Friend. Edited by the Rev. G. H. Curteis.

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(Mowbray and Co.)—This little magazine, a distinctively Church periodical, may be safely reoommended to readers who prefer this special character. The illustrations are unequal...

Stories of Pets. By Dean 13urgon, Dr. Gordon Stables, and

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other writers. (Dean and Son.)—This is a volume of "The Boys' and Girls' Library." Dean Burgon's contribution is a copy of humorous verses about some cats. Some of the...

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The Universal Review for January publishes a " Symposium "

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on the influenza, which contains, among other information, a really valuable account of the origin of the epidemic, by Dr. Klein, the bacteriologist. He maintains that the cause...

saying that Shakespeare's works are the only true record of

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his genius ; but when he complains that a well-known Shakespearian scholar has put forward statements "for which he utterly fails to give any reasonable ground," he does not...

The Lost Ring. By M. C. Melville. (Nelson and Sons.)—

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This is "A Romance of Scottish History in the Days of King James and Andrew Melville." It shows study of the period, but it has the fault, too commonly found in historical...