20 MARCH 1909

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We have pointed out elsewhere what, in our opinion, is

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needful to be done, but may compress it here into eight lines: Use at once all available resources for construction, and make such preparations for further construction that...

Unquestionably Sir John Fisher's talk about our great strength and.

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our unrivalled resources had the evil result, in the first place, of inclining the Government to take an optimistic view, and to think that they might safely relax our...

As we have said, elsewhere, we are determined that no

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word of party recrimination shall fall from us in regard to what has happened, nor do we desire for one moment to blame the Government, The essential thing now is to lot bygones...

On Tuesday afternoon the nation may be said to have

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awakened from its dream that we possessed a Fleet so great, and resources for shipbuilding so tremendous, that it was absolutely impossible that any Power, or even combination...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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" I TURN to all of you and I turn to my countrymen and I say, Sleep quiet in your beds, and do not be disturbed by those bogies, of invasion and. otherwise, which are being...

Ths Rditors cannot undertake to return Manuscript, in any case.

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We desire to emphasise very strongly Lord Rosebery's admirable letter

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addressed to Thursday's Times. Lord Rosebeg, though he fully realises that the Navy must always be our first line of defence, and that nothing can ever com- pensate us for...

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Accordingly, if we were to maintain our superiority in those

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classes, the Admiralty must be able to give orders for armour, grans, and gun-mountings in advance so that we might make certain of having twenty Dreadnoughts ' and '...

Mr. Asquith's speech made a profound impression on the House.

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It will be seen that the Government were entirely misinformed as to the intentions of Germany. They talked of security when they did not know what was really happening. We have...

Mr. Asquith confessed that if the Government ignored the importance

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of the question before Parliament, they would deserve the condemnation which was always pronounced on those faithless to "a great public trust." After emphasising the fact that...

Government, who knew what the actual state of affairs was

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last November, did not at once communicate the fact to Parliament, which was then sitting. The Government clearly realise that it is most important to get the country to face...

Mr. Balfour, who followed Mr. McKenna, spoke with a sense

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of grave responsibility, reminding the House that the decision taken during the next few days would affect the national destiny for three or four years. So far as the years...

The Navy debate was continued on Wednesday, when the most

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important of the speeches was made by Mr. Arthur Lee. The Opposition believed that four additional ' Dread- noughts ' (including under that title ' Invincibles ') were " down"...

On Tuesday in the House of Commons Mr. McKenna explained

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the Navy Estimates, and the debate was one of the most memorable that have taken place for years. After com- paring in detail the progress being made in ships of the '...

We feel that we cannot leave the question of naval

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defence without observing that, though it is absolutely necessary that we should, if possible, possess two capital ships for every capital battleship possessed by Germany, we...

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Mr. Arnold-Forster, who died suddenly while preparing to start for

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the Tariff Reform luncheon yesterday week, was the grandson of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, and the adopted son of Mr. W. E. Forster. But it is not too much to say that he owed his...

Mr. Lloyd George is to be heartily congratulated on the

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speedy termination of the libel case in which he appeared as plaintiff yesterday week. Grose charges reflecting on his private character hail appeared in the People in January...

We do not, of course, deny that on moral grounds

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it may be, an occasionally is, necessary to forbid or hamper exchanges. All we contend is that when the professed object of for- bidding or hampering exchanges is the creation...

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Friday's news in regard to the Balkan crisis is better,

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or Perhaps we should say a little less bad, for there seems some reason to hope that the Emperor Francis Joseph is exerting himself in the interests of peace. Against this must...

On Monday in the House of Commons the Small Holdings

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Act was discussed, and it was complained on the Liberal side that the provision of holdings was too slow. Sir Edward Strachey agreed that in a few counties the Councils had not...

On Friday, March 12th, Mr. Balfour made his long-expected speech

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at the luncheon given by the Executive Committee of the Tariff Reform League. A speech from Mr. Balfour on Tariff Reform always partakes a good deal of the nature of a Delphic...

Mr. Balfour of course found it an easy task to

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twit the Government with their abandonment of Free-trade viewa. Though he does not say so in so many words, we presume his speech to mean that Tariff Reform is a better...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY

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A NAVAL FOOL'S PARADISE. W E have been living in a fool's paradise. That is the net content, of the statements made by the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Prime Minister in...

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WHY NOT A VOTE OF CREDIT?

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-W- E have described in the previous article the naval situation as it exists to-day. We must now consider what practical steps we ought to take to bring our Fompetition with...

SERVIA AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. T HE question whether there is to be

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war between Austria-Hungary and Servio, depends entirely upon the action of the first-named Power. Servia, though she may have said and done injudicious things, and though her...

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"FAIR" WAGES AND FREE-TRADE. T HE recent discussion in the House

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of Commons on the Fair Wage Clause in Government contracts raises very important questions of economic principle and political practise. There is ii natural desire on the part...

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THE FRENCH POST OFFICE STRIKE. T HE strike in the French

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Post Office, which began last Saturday, and out of small beginnings has grown till it has engaged the anxious attention of the French Government, is worth watching. It is only...

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MARRIAGE NO DISABILITY.

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W E are necessarily writing in advance of the discussion on Mr. Howard's Women's Enfranchisement Bill. It is hardly rash, however, to forecast the course it will take. It...

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THE BIBLE AS A BOOK.

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AI R. GEORGE HARWOOD, M.P., has just pub- lished a "primer" called "The Bible as a Book" (Francis Griffiths, is. net). It is a very well conceived little pamphlet, interesting...

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THE ANTISEPTIC OF THE PRESS.

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T WO weeks ago, in reviewing the magazines, we mentioned what seemed to us a curiously wrong-headed article in the English Review by Mr. Belloo entitled "The Source of...

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THE NORTH WIND IN MARCH.

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T HE year 1909 will take its place in the annals of English weather as having carried its winter further into the spring than any year within recent memory. It was fourteen...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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SLAVE-GROWN COCOA. [To THIS EDITOR Ole TII SI' ICOTAT011.".1 Sin,—We have pleasure on behalf of the firms interested in enclosing a statement on the above subject, which we...

THE NAVY AND NATIONAL SERVICE.

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[To 71111 EDIT= 011' rims " 9rxerAroa.") SIR,—In your article on " Compulsory Training" in the Spectator of March 13th you refer at some length to the views which I expressed...

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THE POLITICAL BALANCE-SHEET OF AUSTRIA- HUNGARY.

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[To TIIA EDITOR or TR R "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—The political balance-sheet of Austria-Hungary which you drew up in your issue of March 13th seems to me, as one not unacquainted with...

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[To THE EDITOR OW THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your article last

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week under this heading you state that the Sanjak of Novi Bazar "was never placed under Austro-Huugarian administration, as were Bosnia and Herze- govina," and that the obvious...

INDIAN MOHAMMEDANS AND LORD MORLEY'S REFORMS.

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[To THE EDITOR OW THE " SPEOTATOZ.1 SIR,—The Spectator has pointed out how essential it is in this matter for the true facts, and all the facts, to be taken into account. It is...

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THE EXPORTATION OF CAPITAL.

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LTO 11111 KllITOR TRH "Spranwroit."] SIR,—Your article on this subject in last week's Spectator must commend itself to many minds; but there appear to me to be two moat serious...

[To TIM EDITOR OP TON "RP5OTATOrt."]

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SIR,--We are here owing to the disunion caused by racial, religious, and caste antipathies. These causes of disunion are being steadily increased by our defective educational...

SOCIALISM AND LIBERALISM.

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(TO THts MDITOR Op Tall "SPRIOTLTOR.'1 SIR,—In your issue of March 6th a letter appears from Mr. Arthur Ponsonby, M.P., who cannot imagine any circum- stances in which Liberals...

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THE LIBERAL PARTY AND FREE-TRADE.

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[To TUB EDITOR OF TUN "SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Mr. Asquith in his speech to the Free-Trade Union at the Queen's Hall on March 9th paid full tribute to the Presence of the prominent...

"NIGHT-SOLEMN."

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[To TUN EDITOR OF THE "SPNCT■TOR.1 the notice of Dr. Way's translation of the Eumenides of Aeschylus in the Spectator of January 30th the reviewer takes exception to his...

MALHERBE'S POEM ON DEATH.

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ere VIE EDITOR 01 SPNCTAT014" J S I R, — In the Spectator of January 30th I read what your reviewer well called "noble lines on death" by Malherbe. I venture to send a...

"ARCADES ADIBO."

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[To TH2 EDITOR OF T1112 "SPECTATOR." J SIR, —You lately made a strong protest against the action of the Confederates in endeavouring to exclude Free-trade Unionists from the...

DEGRADED PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN.

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[To TUN EDITOR OM TIll "SPNCTATOR."J SIR,—In your issue of the 13th inst. there is a review (specially interesting because it agrees with the general view you have been lately...

PERJURY AND PUBLICITY IN THE DIVORCE COURT.

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[To MI EDITOR Or TUN "SPROTATOR.1 BIR,—Your correspondent Mr. Thomas-Stanford (Spectator, February 27th) suggests that the remedy for the discreditable state of affairs now...

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GRANTS TO POOR LIVINGS.

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LTO TIER EDITOR OF TOR SPECTATOR.") Bin,—I venture to say that you would not, have traversed Mr. Rotton's letter in your lest issue quite so ; adversely.were you . practically...

.SEIGNEUR DAKIMKEYIPERT.

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ILTO TRH Remit OF Till "SPKGPATOlt."] SIR,—In his letter bearing this title (Spectator, February 2 7th) your correspondent Mr. Warrick observes: "Ands' iu Scotland is locally...

LORD LOVAT.

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[To TRH EDITOR OF TUE "Sracrkroa.“1 Si, — ay I point out that the words of Lord Lovat to the Major of the Tower, which you quote in your review of Mr. Mgekenzie's Life in last...

HERO-WORSHIP AND PATRIOTISM. [To TRIO EDITOR OF TRH " SPECTATOR:1

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SIR,—The extractel am venturing to send you on the subject of hero-worship and patriotism are, from a. commonplace-book of , the late Dr.; S. Cheetham, Archdeacon of Rochester....

iTo- Tun EDITOR OF Tn. ''Srzerxron.1 .San,—Permit me .to reply.

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Your comment .on my letter of ; last, week does not meet the difficulty. Whether the grant. is ' made to the incumbent or to the living, its ;purpose is the ,same,—to give the...

rHE " SPECTATOR " FUND FOR THE FAMILY OF THE

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MURDERED IRISH CONSTABLE. THE following correspondence has passed between the editor pf the Spectator and Mr. Goldrick, father of the murdered ponstable :— The "Spectator"...

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I beg to acknowledge, with feelings of deep gratitude, your

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Letter of the 8th inst., with reference to Os death of My only son, the vietial of the Craughwell tragedy. This communication ; reached me through the Inspector-General of Royal...

POETRY.

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THE FINAL MYSTERY AT ELEUSIS. [This myth in believed to have come from Egypt to Greece, and there to have formeut part of the doctrine commnnicated to the initiated at the...

MUSIC.

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VETERANS' OF THE ORCHESTRA. • IT is not altogether easy to find analogies in other spherei of activity for the'"poSition of the'leading members of our great orchestras. - They'...

NOTICE.—When Articles or "Correspondence" are signed with , the writer's

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name or initials, or with- a pseudonym, or are' snarled "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the vietos therein expressed or with the...

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BOOKS.

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MADAME NOVIKOFF.* MADAME NOVIKOFF, we learn, has always had an amiable aversion from writing about herself, and could not be pre- . veiled upon to write her reminiscences. This...

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THE POETRY OF OXFORD.*

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IT was a good idea to make a collection of poems relating to Oxford; and Mr. Firth's anthology, as he lays it before us, runs to nearly four hundred pages, by far the greater...

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BROUGHAM AND HIS EARLY FRIENDS.*

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AN age which has ceased to be irritated by Brougham's, eccentricities is peepared to be interested even in small about that strange mixture of craziness and genius. Two (if...

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EARTHWORK.* "Canstin, and Noll, and Old Nick between them," says

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Mr. Allcroft, "claim a most unfair share of the nation's antiquities." There is no chapter in this excellent book which' does not protest against ignorant attributions of...

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THE FRIENDLY CRAFT.*

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PROFESSOR ELIZABETH HANSCOM has made a quite admirable book by putting together extracts from biographies and corre- spondences without end. The labour which this little volume,...

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A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER.*

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IN his preface to this book Mr. Sidney Webb has done the obvious thing in expressing regret that it should have been left to a Professor of Political Economy in the University...

EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY.*

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ANOTHER addition of fifty volumes has been made to this series, and the selection shows excellent judgment, tempered, we might say, with a certain enterprise. "Fiction," with...

THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION.t THE substance of this Report may be

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easily stated. The Carnegie Foundation has an income of about 2110,000, which is devoted entirely to providing retiring pensions for Emeriti Professors whose term of activity...

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NO S.

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GEOFFREY CHERITON.* BARNETT has given us in Geoffrey Cheriton a very inter- esting study in hero-worship based on an experience familiar to many of our readers,—the reversal of...

READABLB Novims.—Ifenry of Navarre. By May Wynne. (Greening and Co.

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6s.)—As a romantic play of the same title as this book is being acted in London at the moment, it is sufficient to say that there is plenty of adventure and movement in the...

Thie—lifil Son. By Ren6 Basin. Translated by Dr. A. S.

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Rappoport. (Sisley's. Gs.)—Though not equal in power to M. Basin's last book, " Redemption," his present volume gives an interesting description of the life of a large farmer...

Daphne in Fitzroy Street, By E. Nesbit. (George Allen and

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Sons. Gs.)—When Miss Nesbit writes a book for children and opens for her readers the doors of the realms of faerie, the events and adventures which she describes are entirely...

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The Age of the Enlightened Despot, 16604789, by A. H.

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Johnson (Methuen and Co., 2s. 6d.), belongs to the series of "Six Ages of European History," appearing under Mr. Johnson's goners' editorship. The author divides the period into...

• General Lee: Man and Soldier. By Thomas Nelson Page.

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(T. Werner Laurie. 6s. net.)---It is only natural that the biographer of General Lee should write with enthusiasm, se great was tho man's military capacity, so admirable was he...

Historical Portraits. By C. R. L. Fletcher and Emory Walker.

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(The Clarendon Press. 8s. 6d. net.)—Hero we have a collection of biographies, one hundred and three in number, the work of Mr. Fletcher, who has also furnished the introduction...

Sleeping Sickness: How to Avoid Infeetion. (Sleeping Sickness Bureau, Royal

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Society.)—" Sleeping sickness is caused by the presence in the system of a minute organism (Trypanosome) which is conveyed. from the sick to the healthy by the bite of a species...

Introduction to the Natural History of .Danguage. By T. G.

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Tucker. (Blackie and Son. 10s. 6d. net.)—Professor Tucker has given us hero an admirably arranged account of the great families of language. He distinguishes them by the methods...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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[Under this heaaing we uotioe such Booke of the week as haus not been reserved for revieto in other forms,) The Revised Version of the New Testament, with Introductions and...

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, Messrs. Funk and Wagnalls send us EL Supplementary Volume

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to ' their Encyclopaedia of Social Reform (7s. 6d. net). It is in dietienary form, as is the work itself, and may be compared with the supplementary volumes of the...

Under Pet raia, with Some Saunterings. By the Author of

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"In a Tuscan Garden." (John Lane. 5s. net.)—The author, who has made herself most favourably known to many readers by her earlier book, tells us how she had to quit her "Tuscan...

Pisa. By Janet Ross and Nell; Erichsen. (J. M. Dent

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and Co. 4e. 6d. and 58.6d. net.)—This volume belongs to the "Mediaeval Towns" Series, an excellent set of books which will be made more useful by this the latest addition. First...

The New Testament in Greek. Text Revised by Brooke Foss

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Westeatt, D.D., and Fenton John Antony fort, D.D. (Macmillan and Cc. 58. net.)—The first edition appeared in 1885; it has been reprinted fifteen times since that date, and it...

The Metropolitan Police. (The Times Office. 6d.)—This pamphlet contains the

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eleven very informing articles which appeared in the Times between December 4th, 3908, and January 15th, 1909. These set forth the constitution, system of enlistment and...

The Clergy List, 1909. (Kelly's Directories. 12s. ad. net,)—The list

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of clergy shows a small increase, amounting to something between one and two hundred. This is small when compared with the increase in population, and bears a minute proportion...

Our Civic Life. Edited, by W. Beach Thomas. (Alston Rivers.

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is. net.)—Here we read about many things in which we are, or ought to be, interested,—about rates (surely there is no parish in ;which these are 15s.) ; about tithes (it is...