T HERE should be war soon, for all the great authorities are proclaiming that peace is inevitable. Lord Salisbury, at the Guildhall last month, was full of his confidence in...

constituents at Bacup on Saturday. He spoke of the Liberal Unionists as political volunteers called out for a special purpose, embodied to meet a special danger, to defeat a...

last day of the year,—a decision in which the Dean of Westminster has been supported by the hearty appro- bation of all who have expressed their feeling on the subject. In...

nearly three days, arrived at a verdict on December 16th. All twelve jurymen thought Burke, O'Sullivan, and Coughlin, the actual slayers, guilty of murder in the first degree;...

bound to lay before the country his revised scheme for keeping the Irish representatives at Westminster,—which appears to necessitate either the break-up of our whole...

case.

was not nearly so able as his principal speech at Nottingham. Moreover, it was much more grandly inaccurate and openly aggressive. He was presented with a cheque for £3,500...

struck for the Emperor of Brazil. As soon (November 17th) as the news reached Maranhao, the capital of the province of that name, the Negroes at once rose in defence of "Dom...

Times' telegram from Zanzibar, that Major Serpa Pinto, the Portu- guese explorer now commanding troops in Mozambique, had committed a distinct aggression on the British. He had...

Liverpool on Thursday. In both the former speeches he aimed at soothing English amour-propre, and was almost as " 'umble " as a famous character in "David Copper- field." He...

of meddling in Imperial concerns, such as the Irish Parliament of 1782 possessed. That be thought a very dangerous power, which he was quite willing to exchange for an Irish...

powers. It has, for example, issued a new Law of Naturalisation, under which every resident in Brazil will, after two years' residence, become a Brazilian citizen. The decree is...

effective was a. contrast between a successful pier built by private enterprise at Wicklow, and an unsuccessful pier built by Government authority at Arklow ; and a contrast...

is well illustrated by the effect of his deci- sion in the matter of Bohemian Home-rule. That question had come up in such a form that it was believed the Cis- Leithan Cabinet...

of some political importance. Laurence Bellew and Thomas Fitzgerald were charged with a conspiracy to boycott, they having advised and threatened dealers inclined to buy cattle...

Free Church, has unfortunately prejudiced his position as the representative of those in the Free Church who think. that the Westminster Confession needs some enlargement, - by....

of Madame Patti, the singer, has died this week of the epidemic of influenza which still rages in most of the cnpitals of Europe. The doctors agree in describing it as...

Friday

The majority in the French Chamber have not been so unjust towards the minority as was expected. They have confirmed most -of the dispute& Reactionarpelections, but have been...

very largely in space, but with the usual illogical exception for packs of hounds. The exception shows what the true policy should be,—to bring home the responsibility for the...

M R. PARNELL is wise in reserving himself for English audiences. In Ireland his lieutenants and colleagues know that his present political cue would not be at all popular ;...

THE QUARREL WITH PORTUGAL. W E are inclined to believe, on all the evidence before us, that there is a history behind the recent conduct of Portugal which, if it were known,...

S ERIOUS as is the bearing of the Cronin trial upon the whole relation of England to Ireland, it is difficult not to postpone the discussion for a moment in order to notice the...

W HETHER or not the speech of Lord Hartington at Bacup gave rise to the wild rumour which im- mediately began to circulate that he is likely to replace Mr. W. H. Smith in the...

at the same time touching, in the contrast between the attitude of the Lord Chief Justice and that of the Judges of Appeal towards the reredos in St. Paul's. Lord Coleridge,...

W HAT is the nation worth as a whole ? That is a question which interests every man and every woman in the community. Mr. Giffen has answered this question in his paper read on...

I T may be worth while to fortify our conclusion of last week drawn from the history of the new Strikes, that the masses are not more philanthropic (or altruistic) than...

I N some respects the two greatest imaginative poets of our day are striking contrasts. Browning is careless and impatient in execution ; Tennyson careful and elaborate....

that families get "worn out," that without special fault of their own, or any distinct explanation of their degeneracy, they lose their energy, sink into lassitude, and either...

A COMMENTARY FROM AN EASY-CHAIR: A VENETIAN FUNERAL-A GRAVE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY- PICTURES IN NEWSPAPERS-THE ART or ILLUSTRATION. 'THE world is so much the poorer for the...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIE,—In your article on Lord Chesterfield, in the Spectator of December 14th, you say :—" The world expects from universal education not...

THE DEPOPULATION OF IRELAND. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Are Sir Henry James's statistics as to the comparative number of houses in Ireland in 1841 and at present...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIE,—Your correspondent, "A. C.," has honoured me highly- by the style in which he has rendered my Greek lines. My motive for writing,...

TENNYSON'S NEW POEMS.* FIVE or six poems in this little volume will rank amongst Tennyson's finest work. There is nothing that the Poet- Laureate expresses with more...

THE almost, if not quite, unique condition of Australia, making it an exceptionally interesting field for the scientific naturalist, induced the University of Christiania to...

THE name, "John Hawkwood," captain of Free Lances, has long been famous and familiar, finding a place in many books since Froissart compendiously celebrated his exploits. Gibbon...

in history whose human interest seems almost to outweigh their historical interest. Her most attractive personality, her joys and sor- rows, are a great deal more to us than her...

APPROACHING Mr. Pater's new volume not without a certain misgiving as to our ability to do justice to a writer whose mannerism has sometimes moved us to impatience, we are free...

in Brittany, where we fall in with the Chouan leaders ; then comes the fatal Quiberon Expedition, and afterwards the Coup d'Etat, besides numerous adventures on the seas. There...

Son.)—Mr. Henty is really indefatigable as to the number of stories he pro- duces. Yet we cannot, in One of the 28th, discern any loss of spon- taneity; the incidents are...

is a certain family resemblance between this story and "Little Lord Fauntleroy," so far, at least, as one of the principal characters is concerned. Rupert Howard is strikingly...

GIFT-BOOKS. The Captains of Cadets. By Henry Frith. (Griffith, Farran, and Co.)—Mr. Frith avails himself of a subject that is "in the air," and describes life on board the...

story laid in Wales at the time of the Rebecca Riots is some- what of a rarity, and has, therefore, two reasons for being inter- esting. Besides this, the writer is sure to have...

Or that almost too impeccable hero—if we may venture to say so—George Washington, these handy volumes give by far the best and most readable biography we have yet seen. Jared...

This "Practical Magazine of Constructive and Decorative Art and Manual Labour" has made, it will be seen, a fresh beginning. A description of the contents of a single number...

Low and Co.)—This story of Jose,' "told by himself and his mistress," gives an account of his family; of the great adventure of his life, when he became the property of a...

three stories, two of children in the country, and one of children by the sea, all of them adorned with appropriate pictures. The stories are good enough, but we doubt whether...

Annabel is taken away from the orphan asylum in which she has been brought up by an uncle who offers to maintain her. This uncle turns out to be a very curious creature, a...

and Co.)—This, as its title indicates, is a scientific extravaganza after the manner of M. Jules Verne. Science and commercial speculation combine to make an attempt upon the...

and Son.) —The Queen whose story is told in this little volume is Marie of Brabant, second wife of Philip, son and successor of Louis IX. of France. It relates the crime of...

Art Journal points with a legitimate satisfaction to the advance to be seen in the volume just given to the public over that of ten years ago. More letterpress, illustrations...

(Nelson and Sons.)—A good story this, with a moral well defined, but not obtruded. Wynt Havisham and his brother find themselves in a singular position by the sudden death of...

step-mother of modern fiction is, for the most part, wholly unlike the well-known character with whom the ancient poets have made us familiar She is not "perfidious "and...

verse which Miss Doudney gives her readers in this volume • is very much above the average of merit of that which is commonly thought good enough to serve for the letterpress of...

its contents as usual. Of course there is fiction, but not in excessive quantity, and a large amount of other matter, useful and readable. In these days, when so many are...

the really good art which it contains. The illustrations are described as being "after Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, Sir T. Lawrence, Romney, and others, and are, in one...

and Debenham.)—The idea of a buccaneer's treasure, which has to be discovered by means of a cryptograph, is one that has been used many times since Edgar Poe wrote his "Gold...

(Home Words Office.)—Fiction is less prominent in this magazine than it is in some of its contemporaries ; nor is it, in our judgment, the worse for that. Miss Emily Holt...

Allen and Co.)—Some children find a brown pebble, and the brown pebble tells them his story, beginning with the account of how, being originally sandstone, he was hardened into...

and Co.)—Captain Snaggs, a good sailor, but a brute liable to become dangerously savage when he is excited by drink, shoots Sam Ledfoot, the black cook. If there ever was a dead...

Stoughton.)—This "page in the history of the West London Mission" is a true story—we are told, and can readily believe— with the names changed. John Herbert, a man of noble...

and Co.)—These tales are supposed to be told by a soldier, a poet, a traveller, and one or two other members of a party assembled at sunset on the tennis-lawn of a...

—Miss Blind's theme is the physical, mental, and moral evolution of man. It would be unfair to ask of a poet that complete account of the theory which men of science themselves...

New York.)—In some introductory verses, Mr Billman tells us that one day he sat in his study, "aimless and dreary, in doubt of his power, whilst a feeling of pain akin to...

Agricultural Co-operative Society.)—Mr. Taller- man believes that we can produce in England as much food as we need, that "we wilfully waste as much as we import," and that "our...

Co.)—Many measures and many moods are expressed with more or less skill in this pleasing and creditable volume of verse. Mr. Wilson manifests a keen appreciation of natural...

Co.), which appears this year for the fifth time (it is revised up to November 25th), has taken its place as a book of reference. It is described as a " cycloptedic record of...

Edinburgh.)—This book, which is one of the apparently innumer- able " retrospects " of the Glasgow International Exhibition of last year, is an interesting, comprehensive, and...

book does not lay claim to great originality. Its author himself describes it as "a compilation," and as a rearrangement of the evidence as to the character of Viscount Dundee...

Co.)—Mr. Waugh, so widely known for his advocacy of the rights of helpless children, has a care for their souls as well as for their bodies. Some time ago we noticed a volume of...

Cook. (Eyre and Spottiswoode.)—The caves which Mr. Cook undertakes to describe in this volume belong to the marvels of the world. They are formed in a limestone "dyke," and are...

York.)—This is a guide-book, written expressly for tourists and settlers,—written, too, in a style which is lively without (in spite of such barbarous adjectives as...