1 APRIL 1876

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The week has been full of rumours of an intended

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abdication of the Czar. They appear to be thus far true, that the Emperor, who is ill, depressed, and over-worked, intends to enjoy a long holiday in a Southern climate, in...

The Queen left Windsor on Monday for Baden-Baden, where, and

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at Coburg, she is to reside for a month, receiving visits ; among others one from the Emperor of Germany. The assigned and pro- bably true cause of this visit is a bereavement...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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THE second reading of the Royal Titles Bill in the House of Lords was carried on Thursday night without a division,—the Liberal party reserving itself for the vote on Lord...

The Andrassy Note appears as yet to have been rather

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a futile diplomatic effort. The Insurgents in the II erzegov ina have absolutely refused to yield, telling the Austrian Governor of Dalmatia, General Rodich, that the Turkish...

Lord Hartington intends next week to raise a debate on

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the vote in the Estimates for Mr. Cave's mission. In this debate, the angry feeling of the country at the Egyptian muddling will find distinct expression. It seems clear that...

Lord Napier and Ettrick, as a former Governor of Madras,

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held that the title of "Sovereign Paramount in India" would be beat; but if the Government would not adopt that, he thought that 44 Emperor" and " Empress "approached nearer to...

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

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case.

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Wednesday was devoted in the Commons to the Iirish Land

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Law, Mr. Butt moving the second reading of a Bill which abolishes the landlords' right of eviction, except for non-payment of a rent to be fixed by the county chairman or a...

Lord Salisbury mentioned on Monday night the names of the

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Oxford Commission, which consists of seven members. Lord Selborne is to be its president. The other six are to be Sir Henry Maine, the Right Hon. Montague Bernard, Mr. Justice...

Dr. Appleton wrote an interesting letter to Tuesday's Times, pointing

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out that, at least as regards those who pursue "original research," non-residents in the University, so far from being non- workers, may be the hardest workers. If a philologist...

Mr. Meldon moved on Tuesday a resolution "that the re-

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stricted nature of the borough franchise of Ireland, as compared with that existing in England and Scotland, is a subject deserving the best attention of Parliament, with a view...

It is stated, apparently on authority, that the Turkish Govern-

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ment will to-day (Saturday) issue a decree postponing payment of the - Six per Cent. Loans due on April 1 to July next. These loans amount to about £46,000,000, and some of...

The Democratic majority in the American House of Representa- tives

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has not forgiven the Army yet. On March 30 they passed, by a vote of 141 to 61, a Bill reducing the pay of officers in the Army by about one-third. The new rates are fair...

A noteworthy telegram has been received from Copenhagen, dated March

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30. The King has dissolved the Folksthing, by a decree in which he states that he can no longer "delay those mea- sures of military defence with regard to which no understanding...

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The French Assembly is threatened with the loss of one

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of the few exceptional figures returned by the electors, the Comte de Man, a Montalembert with less Liberalism. For- merly a cavalry officer, he has devoted himself to preach-...

Professor Ferrier's second lecture on "Sleep and Dreams" was delivered

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at the London Institution on Monday, and in it he maintained that the theory of the continual Activity of the mind is inadmissible. Thought ceases or diminishes as the organ of...

We have been informed, by the Agent-General for New Zealand,

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that the statement quoted in these "Notes" last week, from the Birmingham Daily Post, respecting the loss and suffering caused in the colony by the long-continued drought, is...

Mr. Serjeant Sherlock raised yesterday week a discussion as to

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the old grievance of the grating within which lady visitors to the House of Commons are immured, but Mr. Beresford Hope argued that if this grating were removed, the whole...

M. Waddington, the - French Minister of Instruction, a Pro- testant,

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brought forward the Government University Bill on Saturday, in a speech intended chiefly to minimise the change. He affirmed that the liberty of superior instruction would be...

The discussion in Committee on Monday last on the Merchant

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Shipping Bill turned chiefly on Mr. Plimsoll's amendment re- spiring the inspection and classification of all ships which are =permitted to go to sea, either by the Government,...

Mr. Justice Brett made some very severe remarks in Liverpool

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last week to the Grand Jury on the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act of last Session, in which remarks he does not appear to have been quite accurate. He asserted that it...

Several present and passed Ministers attended the annual dinner of

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the Institute of Civil Engineers on Saturday, and made plea- sant speeches. Lord Carnarvon told his entertainers that Governments lived longest through their public works, which...

Consols were at the latest date 04f to 94i.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE PREMIER AND EGYPT. DISRAELI will be drowned in the Nile, if he does not take care. The secret history of the extraordinary series of incidents in connection with Egypt...

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THE "EMPRESS" IN THE LORDS.

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HURSDAY'S debate in the House of Lerds on the Queen's new title brought out two features of the 'Imperial' question with remarkable force. The one was that "the logic of facts"...

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THE RUMOURED ABDICATION OF THE CZAR.

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T HE rumour of Czar Alexander's abdication, either for a time or for ever, which has been circulating all over Europe for a week, is still uncontradicted, and has probably,...

Page 7

THE OXFORD COMMISSION.

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TT is occasionally a convenient mathematical expedient, but 1 rarely, we fancy, a useful political one, to alter the appar- ent significance of a function without altering its...

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COMPULSORY SURVEY.

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W HEN Lord Lytton was - appointed to the Viceroyalty of India, it was never suggested, among the possible ex- planations, that his promotion was due to the admiration with...

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LORD MACAULAY'S MEMORY.

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1VI ACAULAY, rather than Rogers, ought to have written "The Pleasures of Memory," if those pleasures were to have been so ffiustrated that the rest of the world could understand...

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MR. LOWE ON THE POLITICAL VALUE OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

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M R. LOWE very often uses his knowledge to discredit learning, and his power of thought to discredit thinking, and has an old trick of exalting Arkwright at the expense of...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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JUSTICE MT NAPLES. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—The trial of Carmine Paisano for the murder of Mr. Hind at Naples has been from time to time the subject of com-...

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"THE DROUGHT IN NEW ZEALAND." (To THE ED/TOR OF THE

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. 4 SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As a practical commentary upon the extract given in your issue of this day from the Birmingham Daily Post upon an alleged drought in New Zealand, I send...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE"SPECTATOR."]

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Sin,—You are evidently entitled to ask Mr. MacColl to explain his mysterious allusion to the "poisoning of the wells," with which le charges Mr. Blomfield in your last week's...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—As a large squatter

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and resident in New Zealand from 1851 to 1866, I beg to say that, from the formation of New Zealand, a. draught is almost impossible ; and to show you that there is no truth in...

BOOKS.

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THE LIFE OF LORD MACAULAY.* • The Life and Lettere of Lord Macaulay. By his Nephew, George Otto Trove!- yin, M.P. 2 vols. London : Longman.. [FIRST NOTICE.] Mn. TREVELYAN has...

THE BURTALS BILL

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[TO Tam EDITOR OF THE " SPEOTATOR:1 MacColl accuses Mr. Blomfield of "well-poisoning," -and adds, "The parish priest has just as much power to refuse Christian burial to the...

Page 15

CAROLINE HERSCHEL.*

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-Jun. two years have elapsed since we were called upon to notice the "personal recollections from youth to old age" of a very re- markable woman, one whose name, notwithstanding...

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THE SYLVAN YEAR.*

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WHEN Mr Hamerton has a pen in his hand, which is more often than not, he is sure to write well, and what he writes about Art • is generally plain and sensible ; and so out of a...

Page 17

CHESS-BOOKS.*

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&UWE the first appearance of the Chess-Player's Hand-book, s; period of nearly thirty years has elapsed, during which an enormous increase in the number of persons interested in...

Page 18

BENJAMIN ROBERT HAYDON.* MIL HAYDON has undertaken a filial task,

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and it is impossible not to sympathise with the heartiness of the defence which gives life to this memoir of his father. The writer, who disclaims all pre- tensions to...

Page 19

SIR HARRY EARLSLEIGH, BART.*

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" HAVING ensconced my person in the aforesaid arm-chair, my next proceeding was to apply a handkerchief to my forehead and to utter the highly significant exclamation, 'P'phew...

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SACHS' BOTANY.*

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PROFESSOR FAwcErr, in the address which he recently delivered at Birmingham as President of the Midland Institute, recom- mended two branches of study to his bearers. Those...

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C.URRENT LITERATURE. -

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The Habitations of Man in All Ages. By Eugene Violist-le-Duo. Translated by Benjamin Bucknall. (Sampson Low and Co.)—The author of this volume combines, as indeed he has already...

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The Life of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. By E.

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Guhl and W. Koner. Translated by E. Hueffer. (Chapman and Hall.)—This work has been put together with the industry and care characteristic of a German authorship. It is a...

'Twixt Hammer and Anvil. By Frank L.e! Benedict. 3 vols.

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(Samuel Tinsley.)—Tho scene of this novel is laid in France, and it has some- thing of the characteristics of the ordinary French noveL The real heroine of the tale, though the...

Sonnets, Songs, and Stories. By Cora Kennedy Aitken. (Hodder and

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Stoughton.)—According to the" opinions of the press" given at tho end of this volume, the newspapers of both hemispheres have conspired to attribute to Miss Aitken the...

Songs of the Christian Creed and Life. Selected from eighteen

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centuries, and translated by Hamilton M. MacGill, D.D. (Pickering.) —Wo are always glad to renew our acquaintance with the beautiful hymns of Christian antiquity and the...

The Red House by the River : a Novel. By

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G. Douglas. 3 vols. (Tinsley Brothers.)—Out of quite ordinary and evory-day materials, Mr. Douglas has constructed a very pleasant and refreshing novel. It is pleasant to find...

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Light as a Motive Power. By Lieutenant R. II. Armit,

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R.N. (Triibner and Co.)—The author's scientific creed may be easily and simply formulated. There is but one force, and electricity is its mani- festation. The two-volume...

A Voice from the Sea ; or, the Wreck of

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the 'Eglantine.' By the Author of Margery's Christmas-Box." With a Preface by Samuel Plimsoll, M.P. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—" If I thought," says Mr. Plimsoll, in his preface,...

Bible Lands, their Modern Customs and Manners, Illustrative of So

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ipture. By Henry J. Van Lonnep, D.D. 2 vols. (Murray.)—The author says, in his introduction, that "the Biblical style is often rendered obscure to us Occidentals by the omission...

Magnetism and Electricity. By Frederick Guthrie. (William Collins and Co.)—An

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admirably written treatise, wherein all may be found which the general student requires. No less interesting will it be to those who would know the elementary principles of the...

High Hopes and Pleadings for a Reasonable Faith, Nobler Thoughts,

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Largo. Charity. Sermons preached in the Parish Church of Tooting- Gravenoy, Surrey, by John Congreve. (Macmillan and Co.)—These sermons must have been listened to with pleasure...

Oration of Demosthenes on the Crown. Translated by the Right

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Honourable Sir R. Collier. (Longtnans.)—It is clear that Sir R. Collier has bestowed considerable pains on this translation, and has done his best to make it accurate. It is...

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To Jamaica and Back. By Sir Sibbald D. Scott, Bart.

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(Chapman and Hall.)—Rather more than a third of this volume is occupied with a review of the history of Jamaica, from its discovery by Columbus in May, 1494, down to the...

The Mind of Shalespeare, as Exhibited in his Works. By

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the Rev. A. A. Morgan. (Routledge.)—" The following work," says the preface. not without a certain magniloquence, "embraces the whole system of Shakepeare's philosophy and...

Ernst .Reitschel, the Sculptor; and the Lessons of his Life

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: an Autobiography and a Memoir. By Andreas Opporman. Translated from the German by Mrs. George Sturge. (Hodder and Stoughton.)— Ernst Reitschel, the sculptor of the Luther...

Guardian and Lover. By Mrs. Alexander Fraser. 3 vols. (Hurst

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and Blackett.)—Mrs. Fraser seems to become conscious, when she has got half-way through her allotted space, that she is telling a somewhat familiar story. The young ward and...