as within her "sphere of influence" goes on steadily. The Times correspondent at Berlin quotes in last Satur- day's paper certain statements from German newspapers to show that...

(1) the 'agreini4nt that Sir Alfred - Milner . and President - Kruger shill Meet at Bloemfontein on May'30th,lo discuss the whole situa-' tio.n ; and (2) the President's...

and one Dane—had been arrested at Johannesburg on a 'charge of high treason, and lodged in Pretoria Gaol. The prisoners are described as "a nondescript lot" of " loafer-like "...

O N Wednesday the Queen (who car the day before had visited Kensington Palace) laid the foundation-stone of the additions that are to be made to the South Kensington...

passed off without hitch or collision, though twenty thousand Christian peasants had flocked into a town already crowded with Mahommedan refugees. The Prince, who arrived from...

case.

convert Major Marchand into a new Boulanger. With this object, apparently, M. Thiebaud—whose name will be remembered in connection with the Boulanger "boom "—has been trying to...

is General Gallieni, who is on his way back from Madagascar. No doubt the great ability and comparatively high status of the stern and, it is said, not over-scrupulous dictator...

of most unnecessary and mischievous tall talk owing to the fact that directly after the Russian Minister at Pekin had informed the Chinese Government of the agreement with...

Government Bill, but it. is impossible to deal with the debate in detail. We may note, however, that on Tuesday Mr. Balfour., by way of concession to the "wonderful unanimity"...

Act in the House of Commons on Friday, May 12th, Mr. Bartley, though he himself proposal a most unworkable scheme for preventing Government busy ing Consols above par, elicited...

Kowloon extension, but not without the use of a force of some two thousand soldiers, sailors, and Marines, who were despatched from Hong-kong. On Tuesday the British flag was...

of a new Cabinet, in which General Pelloux remains Premier and Minister of the Interior, and eight outgoing Re elical Ministers are replaced by Extreme or Moderate Comm...

enough to say that they have finally plucked the heart out of the secret dossier. This is now shown to have been a mere budget of forgeries, including bogus letters from the...

the annual dinner of the Railway Benevolent Institution on Wednesday. Recalling his experiences as chairman of the Great Eastern, where, coming fresh from the fight of politics,...

the Hotel Cecil on Thursday night, in which, in reference to Lord Rosebery's last political utterance, he declared that for good or for evil the Liberal party of 1886 had passed...

Northbrook Club. Lord Rosebery, in recalling Lord Elgin's appointment, described the difficulties he had experienced in overcoming the late Viceroy's diffidence. He dwelt on the...

taken out to see the sights of London, and the summary of their impressions given in Monday's Chronicle by one who accompanied the party is both entertaining as well as instruc-...

the Committee for the establishment of a Birmingham University that Mr. Andrew Carnegie had very generously promised £50,000, on condition that the money should be used for the...

held at the National Liberal Club on Wednesday. In domestic affairs, he compared the patient advance of the House of,Commons through the mazes bf the London Govern- ment Bill to...

New Consols (21) were on Friday 1101.

LORD CHARLES BERESFORD AND CHINA. IATE welcome the appearance of Lord Charles Beresford's V V book on China ("The Break-up of China"; Harper and Brothers, 12s.) because it...

r E . news of • -the arrest of half- a dozen men from among the ranksof the poorer .Outlanders on a• charge of high treason • does not seem to us to affect the main issues at...

T HE German Emperor has added to his many other functions that of playwright. . The news from Berlin is that the one topic of conversation there is the production of the...

S OME fifteen or twenty years ago Mr. Gladstone gave frank expression to his regret that since, and, as he seemed to think, largely through circumstances arising out of, the...

MHE opening of the Peace Conference would have . attracted more notice had it not been made the occasion of so much extravagant speculation. As it is, it comes as something of...

which relegated to the Parks and Open Spaces Committee of the . London County Council the report as to Tudor House, an old house in Bromley-by-Bow, We trust that this relic Of...

I T is one of the puzzles of modern history that France, which shows so much political dislike of England, bows the knee in patient interest to English literature. It seems as...

p ASSENGERS by rail not infrequently complain of the dullness of a modern railway journey. Those whose Whitsuntide holidays take them by train to coast or country might lighten...

THE WRECK OF THE 'STELLA' AND THE LAPIDARY STYLE. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Si,—There is one purpose, hitherto overlooked, to which the lapidary style is perfectly...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] am sure that every one who is anxious for the peace Of the Church will thank you heartily for your leading article of May 13th on the...

Sin,—Cromwell was hardly a cruel man, and even in chivalry, at least of a sort, does not seem to have been altogether lacking. Is he not said to have given timely warning to a...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sta;—A letter with the above heading in. the • Spectator of May 13th is apt to recall Napoleon L's well-known dictum, that a lie with a start...

and his treatment of the Quakers, it may be interesting to remember that the Friends found a protector in his antagonist, Prince Ruper,he eon- trast is striking enough between...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sra,---Mr. Capell in his letter published in the Spectator of May 13th states inaccurately a fact which forms an important part of.his...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIE,—I see in a recent number of the Spectator an extra- ordinary statement made by some one who professes knowledge of things in New York....

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sni,—As one of those who for many years have thoroughly appreciated the soundness of your views on most public questions, and the courage and...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The reviewer of Dr. Fairbairn's book on Anglicanism in the Spectator of May 13th strangely misunderstands the posi- tion of the Quakers...

(TO TILE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—At this distance I cannot carry on discussion, but I hope you will let me state a few facts bearing on your views about Indian...

SIR,—Your reviewer in his notice of Sir Edward Grey's charming book on "Fly-Fishing," in the Spectator of May 13th, refers to the author's suggestion, that trout lay hold of...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—I have just returned from a short visit to Pennsylvania, New York, and the New England States, where I had excep- tional opportunities...

[To TIM EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The "legend that Mrs. Stothard cut off a piece of the Bayeux tapestry," which you mention in your article, has some foundation. When the...

THE NEW NURSE. WE cry and fight now all the day, And simply hats to hear her name ; And still she isn't sent away, And Mother keeps her just the same. For Mother says, "In...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your story in a recent number of the Spectaw of the dog who buried the kitten alive may perhaps be corroborated by two others within...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIE,—There is nothing new under the sun, not even the comr w.ny-promoting Peer. Under date of October 3rd, 1660, Mr. Pepys writes:—" This day...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, —In your article on "The Spy System in France" you say:—" These restrictions upon the liberty of the subject would cause the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, —If any weight can be aftached to custom and to the un- written laws of the Highlands some consideration should be shown to those who...

MR. ORCHARDSON has certainly painted a very fine portrait this year. His Earl of Crawford (No. 243) is one of those pictures which attract and fascinate without proclaiming...

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM MORRIS.* MR. MAcKArr, might well, we think, have borrowed a word from the mediaeval times so dear to the subject of his bio- graphy, and called his book the...

mistaken, this is a book of very exceptional value and importance. We are quite certain that there exists no book in English which attempts what Dr. Hyde has...

is more glibly or more ignorantly made in the current ecclesiastical controversy than the "Reformation Settlement," and there are few persons better qualified to enlighten the...

find any one better qualified than Mr. Charles Whibley, alike by his theory and practice of style, for the task of introducing to this degenerate age one of Philemon Holland's...

illustrated in the Vicomte de Luz's interesting romance of the Second Empire, is far from reach- ing the heights to which it soars in Marmontel's moral tale of "The Bad Mother."...

MUSICAL BOOKS. Medietral Music. By R. C. Hope. (Elliot Stock. 7s. 6d. net.)— Those who wish to explore the misty realms of "modes," plain song," and "descant" will find plenty...

is an admirable attempt to distinguish between Wagner the incomparable dramatic musician. and Wagner the compounder of unconvincing metaphysics. Wagner wrote heaps of tracts—for...

6s.)—This volume of essays on musical matters of the classic period is good reading throughout. The account of Haydn's note-book is full of amusing and characteristic things....

on vielins with enthusiasm. This wonderful instrument always excites emotion in those who write of it ; it is so different from such dead, lifeless things as pianos. Its eternal...

book is a series of short and somewhat superficial Lives of the great musicians from Bach to Brahms, with facsimiles of their handwriting. The writer says his aim was to convey...

seventh volume of Mr. Ashton Ellis's trans- lation is better reading than the sixth. We are not wearied by so much metaphysic as before, and the musician writes about music...

: a Family Karratirebasedupon Hitherto anpu.blished Plicate Diaries, Letters, and other Documents. By Arthur H. Beava.n. With 5 Portraits. (Hurst and Blackett. 6s.)—We have not...

Bowden. Ss. 6d.)—On the whole we prefer the " ballads" to the "poems."' "False Dearbhorgil," for instance, is a very spirited piece of work. But ballads are too long to quote,...

Janet Gourley. Inscriptions and Translations by Percy E. Newberry. Illustrated. (John Murray. 21s.)—This is an account of the excavation of a temple lying between Luxor and...

[Under this heading we 710iiCe such Books of the week as hare not been reserved for review in other forms.] in a distant part of the world I always send "for a Captain of the...

the story of M. Sardou's play, "adapted and novelised under his authority." An interesting question of historic morality arises. For stage purposes a fictitious incident may be...

.Moxly. (Rivingtons. 5s.)—Mr. Moxly questions the conclusions arrived at by Professor Darwin in the work lately reviewed in the Spectator (April 30th), and before him by Sir G....

and Co. - 2s. 6d.)—Miss Harries holds with "Scientific Palmistry," and tells us in this volume some of its principles. A frontispiece gives a chart of the hand with its various...

Smith gives us' here two - very readable essays. 'He has a gift of humour, has read widely,, and knows, how to quote. Generally he has fair share of the qualifications of an...

S. Marshall, MA. (F. J. Hanbury. 12s. 6d.)—The volume begins with an introduction on the geology and meteorology of the county, and a "Delimitation of the Botanical Districts."...

(Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., Boston, U.S. 4s.)—Dr. Trueblood's volume, consisting of lectures delivered at the Meadville Theological School in 1897, is a seasonable publication....

Diaries arranged' by Mary . Enfield. - ' 3s. }' - Miss • Needham began liereciivities with sOcial"work at' limn% labouring fir - the Y.W.C.A. and • other good cantles.- 'Thies'...

T. Reed. (Bradbury, Agnew, incl•Co. 70.6d. net.)—Readers of Patnwl& wilfie- meniber the humorous armorial bearings Which he has invented from - time to time for various persons...

6d.)—Andrew Melville certainly deserved the place that has been found for him in the "Famous Scots Series." No sturdier protester for liberty of conscience—his own liberty, it...

Brothers. 6s.)—William Jones went to administer the "War Victims' Fund" of the Society of Friends, first in 1870-71, during and after the Franca-German War, and afterwards in...

This is the story of the life of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria by some one who in past times was in attendance upon her. One does not expect in a book produced under such...

volume in the "Splendid Lives Series." The writer holds, or at least seeks to hold, the balance with an even hand. He admires his hero greatly, and, indeed, the hero is worthy...

(Mac- millan and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—This volume is devoted to the con- sideration of the destination and the date of the Epistle to the Galatians. The question of the destination...

with Introduction and Notes, by A. Douglas Thom- son, MA. (A. and C. Black, 2s. Gd.) Mr. Thomson describes in his introduction the Cyclops as he appears in Greek literature,...

well known to need description or commendation. It has been published now for thirty-one years, and has continuously improved. The editor's preface is more than commonly worth...

(S.P.C.K., 6d.), is an account of St. Paul's Epistles, showing where and to whom and for what main purposes they were written, and what place they fill in the history of the...

—The popular novelist has taken another of the steps in the great staircase of fame,—the birthday book. There is a certain absurdity in the idea of making such a book out of any...