T HE cloud is settling heavily upon the Czar. The attempt to conceal the gravity of his illness has suddenly been abandoned by the officials, and on the 16th inst. the following...

case.

and New York, that the British Government has suggested to the Continental and American Governments that the time has arrived for Europe to mediate between China and Japan. All...

the Japanese war with China. There may be means of reconciling the telegrams, but judging only from internal evidence, we should say that they are drawn or inspired by Japanese...

firmed by Lord Rosebery's action, the peace party in Pekin is in the ascendant. The proposals have been rejected as above, but it is hinted that negotiations may still continue....

according to bazaar report, the Ameer of Afghanistan is dead ; that before his death he nominated his eldest son, Habibullah Khan, his successor, and that he advised him, if lie...

will be issued, _gratis, a SPECIAL LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, the outside pages of which will be devoted to Advertisements. To secure advertising , spaces in the Supplement, positions...

LORD ROSEBERY'S DEPLOMATIC DEFEAT. L ORD ROSEBERY is on the downward plane. Ever since he explained away his reference to the "pre- dominant partner" in the Union, both parties...

T O the ordinary man Mr. Illingworth's secession from the ranks of the Gladstonian party sounds almost incredible. Mr. Illingworth has always seemed so typical a Radical of the...

States of Europe, and quite incapable of menacing any other country, but the result of her elections, commenced this week, may gravely affect politics in every civilised...

THE MILE Government and the Gladstonian party are in a taking over the question of the Upper House. Their earnest desire is to find a short way with the Lords, but they are at a...

W HETHER Abdurralunan Khan, Ameer of Afghan- istan, is dead or not—and he may be, for bazaar rumours have often a foundation—he is certainly, very ill. Though not yet fifty, be...

the London School Board has brought into the field first the Bishop of London and then the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Bishop of London is an old educationalist, and, like...

over an accident like that near Ashford, in which seven hop-pickers and children perished, without gliding into speculations about which human reason seems to give us no clear...

" W ITH words we govern men," said Lord Beaconsfield, and Mr. Richard Le Gallienne, lecturing at the West. bourne Park Chapel, on Sunday, on the "Nonconformist Con- science,"...

I T can hardly be called an omission, but it is certainly matter for surprise, that in the two bulky volumes of "The Forester,"* the standard work on trees and their repro-...

O F the numberless personal allusions which give life and dramatic charm to Plato's dialogues, few are prettier or more touching than that to the "bridle of Theages." It is...

I T is not always easy to appreciate the troubles of other people, but in some cases we may, at least, plead a good excuse for want of sympathy. Such a case, we think, is...

the article in the Spectator of October 13th on "The Standing of Schoolmasters," the following incident, which gave me infinite pleasure at the time, may be of interest. I was...

"POOR PADDY-LAND !" rTo TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I feel constrained to challenge some of your corre- spondent's (" Vactius Viator's ") statements regarding the...

SIR,—Has not the low opinion that Englishmen as a rule hold of education something to do with what you so aptly term the " disconsideration " of schoolmasters P When I was...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE a ETECTATOR,, n ] 4:311I, — I have just read through with interest your article in the Spectator of October 13th on " The Standing of School- masters,"...

likelihood of the production of wheat being reduced, the only thing to do is to increase the demand for it, and by so doing to raise its value. Farmers are already feeding their...

ERASMUS.* MUCH has been written, and much, no doubt, will continue to be written, regarding the actors and scenes in the great dramas of the Revival of Learning and the European...

[To THE EDITOR or TUN "SPECTATOR: P i SIR, — About the year 1848 an Egyptian mummy was unrolled in public, in Bristol. I do not think I was myself present, but I know that some...

[To THE BUTTON, OE THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—Your interesting article, 'The Wheat Problem," in the Spectator of October 13th, suggests a reason that I have not before seen, why...

To speak of Mr. du Manner's second novel as a great achieve- ment in fiction seems to us quite as unwarrantable a proceed- ing as to deny the strong though intermittent...

Tine is an age of series and manuals. Hardly a year passes but some enterprising publisher announces that he will issue a new collection of volumes bearing on some subject,...

CONSIDERING what he was and what he did, Sir Harry Parkes never quite got his due share of public appreciation. Two things were against him. In the first place his achievements...

COLONEL HAWKER, who was born in 1786, was the descendant of ancestors who had served in the British Army from the days of Elizabeth without a break, fie was educated at Eton,...

DISAPPOINTMENT is an emotion which it is uncomfortable to feel and irritating to express. Perhaps not one of the novelists whom we regard with gratitude as the donors of many...

(printed, we see, in Holland, whither not a little work of this kind is being driven by English prices), under the title of The Royal Nail Picture-Book. The frontispiece is "The...

(Wells Gardner, Darton, and Co.)—The idea of this book is to give a coloured drawing on one page and the same uncoloured on the other, for young people to fill in. It is an...

H. Miles. (Hutchinson and Co.) — It might be said that one book of anecdotes differs very little from another. Lot it be moderately fresh and brought up to date, so to speak,...

and Co.)—Australia, Hindos tan, even New Guinea, have been pretty well explored in the past by the seekers after exciting adventures for boys. Yet Mr. Skipp Borlase- who, one...

and R. Chambers.) —Never, we may safely say, has there been a Sovereign for whose life there have been materials so abundant as those which are accessible to the biographer of...

(Ward, Lock, and Bowden.)—" Talks with Young People about India" is the sub-title of Mr. Pool's book. Of course, he tells us about many other things besides idols. His first...

GIFT-BOOKS. Cabinet Portrait Gallery. Reproduced from the original Photo- graphs by W. and D. Downey. (Cassell and Co.)—This is the "Fifth Series" of these very attractive...

Co.)—The career of the farmer's son, who works at night to prepare himself for a bursary at Aberdeen, is one that is sure to commend itself to the true Scotch boy. Dr. Stables...

(F. Warne and Co.)—In this volume there are five short stories, all of them connected by some graceful and tender sentiment with one or other of the old-fashioned plants, which...

(Nimmo) has reached its final and forty-eighth volume, which contains the Chronicles of the Canongate. The last four volumes of the series, which include Count Robert of Paris...

Scott is one of those delightful travellers who, before they write of their travels, clear their minds of cant. He speaks quite frankly, for instance, about the Japanese, and...

of "My Official Wife," is a highly sensational story of the transpontine character, which has Anarchism as its back- ground. It describes the woes and adventures of Evelyn...

(John Murray.)—This is an excellent manual; the author has made a judicious use of the best authorities, and put together the results of adequate study in a convenient and...

Co.)—We are introdueed to one of those happy, mischievous families of children who drive their parents crazy, but who develop of course as they grow older into interesting...

Co.)—The monograph this month is on "Bookbinding in France," and is from the pen of Mr. William G. Fletcher. Probably the public to which it is addressed is less extensive than...

(W. Heinemann.)—We fail to trace the applica- tion of the story of Icarus in Miss Alma-Tadema's book. Emilia Fletcher reminds us more of the moth that singes its wings in the...

(W. -and R. Chambers.)—The hero of the story, a young, reckless, but really good fellow, is sent to Morocco to obtain a little discipline from travel, and meets with some...

history of a Fifeshire family" has the look of being largely a transcript from life. It is a tragic tale—we can get nothing else, it would seem, nowadays but tragic tales—but it...

Lanes and Co.)— Mr. Gore describes his volume as "a series of popular articles on astronomical subjects." Astronomy is allowed on all hands to be a science which can be made...

Overton, D.D. (Longmans.)—Dr. Overton carries on in this volume the work on the "English Church in the Eighteenth Century," which he executed in collaboration with Mr. Abbey....