21 NOVEMBER 1896

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BOOKS.

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THE RISE OF NAPOLEON.* MR. SLOANE has added another to the many valuable works which America is now contributing to the clearing up of the history of Europe. In the past...

tittrarp Ouppirment.

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LONDON: NOVEMBER 21st, 1896.

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" THE LIFE OF A FOX." *

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WE wonder how many Masters of the hundred and ninety- five packs of foxhounds in the United Kingdom have begun their season this November equipped with the know- ledge of the...

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TWO RECENT CAMPAIGNS.* Tirn last Ashantee expedition did not prove

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a very eventful one, and Colonel Baden-Powell's narrative of his own share therein is somewhat lacking in stirring episodes, in spite of the fact that he was employed in what...

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GEORGE SMITH OF COALVILLE.*

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THE biography before us tells the story of a man, born to poverty and hardship, who, as soon as he had won his own way to comfortable circumstances, gave himself up to the work...

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SIR, KENELM DIGBY.* SIB KENELM DIGBY was among the least

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effectual and most interesting men of his time. He played an officious part in love and science, politics and war, but he neither made dis- coveries, nor changed the complexion...

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THE LABOUR PROBLEM.* Ir the British working man is possessed

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of a subtle sense of humour, he must enjoy many a chuckle at the interest and enthusiasm which his position and cause have aroused since he became possessed of a vote. Our...

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GIFT-BOOKS.

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THE STORY OF THE SEA.* THIS volume satisfactorily completes a work commenced last year. " Completes " is, perhaps, hardly the word. The whole "Story of the Sea" would demand for...

MR. LEHMANN'S PORTRAITS.* WE were not able to say much

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in praise of Mr. Rudolf Lehmann's Reminiscences. He seemed to us not to have much of the art of painting in words. But if his volume bad been scattered with the salt which is...

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Stella's Story. By Dailey Dale. (J. S. Virtue and Co.)—This

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is a dainty little volume, well printed and well illustrated, and gives a very pretty, if also sweetly commonplace, story of Venice and England. Three people meet in the city of...

The Wardship of Stcepcombe. By Charlotte M. Yonge. (National Society.)—Sir

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Diggory Upton takes advantage of the minority of his nephew to exercise various oppressive rights or quasi-rights ; among other things he reclaims certain villeins who had...

Very Funny Stories Told in Rhyme. (S.S.U.) — Some of these stories—thirty-four

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in number—have been published before. Not a few are distinctly good, as, for instance, " Prissy's Curls." The tale of a marvellously good girl has been told, who " had golden...

The Revolt of the Young MacCormacs. By Violet Geraldine Pinny.

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(Ward and Downey.)—This is a very amusing and well- constructed story of a family of four children in Dublin, who get alarmed at hearing that their father, who is a learned...

School in Fairy-Land. By E. H. Strain. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—

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Mrs. Strain is a delightful—and to all appearance at least delight- fully simple—writer, but her new book is too mystically " fairyish " to be quite understood by the...

The Silver Link. (S.S.U.)--This "Illustrated Monthly Maga- zine for Home

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and School" will be found both interesting and instructive. We observe that in the portion named " The Sunday Hour" we have a succession of "Sunday Lessons" given. These will be...

Be/tiara/ley. By G. Robert Wynne, D.D. (S.P.C.K.)—The Archdeacon of Aghador

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has here given a story of the terrible days in Ireland a hundred years ago, which, if not quite so well com- pacted as it might have been, is yet full of incident, brogue, and...

The King's Baby. By E. M. Rutherford. (Gay and Bird

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)— This is a very agreeable story of a Royal child of more than average intelligence, and with a gift of humour of the sort that appeals specially to children, because it is...

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Messrs. Gardner, Darton, and Co. publish two volumes of comic

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pictures and words, Nonsense for Somebody, Anybody, Every- body, particularly the Baby Body, by " A Nobody," and Some More Nonsense as Before. The first appeared last year, and...

The Hermit Princes. By Eleanor Stredder. (Nelson and Sons.) —This

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is "A Tale of Adventure in Japan." Perhaps we might say that the tale has too little adventure and too much Japan in it. Miss Stredder is evidently well acquainted with Japan....

Little Folks. (Cassell and Co.)—This magazine for children— the younger

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as well as the older are considered—keeps up to its standard, and even improves. Both the serious and the comic divisions are good. The serious is not heavy ; the comic is not...

Messrs. Gardner, Darton and Co. send us the annual volume

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of Sunday Reading for the Young. The volume is provided with alter- native bindings, which may be briefly described as specimens, re- spectively, of "high" and "popular" art....

We have received a new edition of The Three Midshipmen,

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by W. H. G. Kingston (Griffith, Ferran, Browne, and Co.) This is one of the best of Mr. Kingston's stories, all of them in the front rank of this kind of literature. The "new...

The Art Bible. (George Newnes.)—This is a copiously illus- trated

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edition of the Old and New Testaments according to the authorised version. The illustrations, which must number at least six hundred, are, on the whole, good, we may say really...

With Cochrane the Dauntless. By G. A. Henty. (Blackie and

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Son.)—Mr. Henty has had to use more than common ingenuity to work his materials into the form required. Lord Cochrane makes an admirable hero. He was a man of many adventures,...

The Story of Aaron. By Joel Chandler Harris. (Osgood, Mcllvaine,

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and Co.)—Aaron, to quote what is said about him in the conclusion of this book, "was and remains a mystery." He was a slave, but not of negro or Indian blood. But whatever he...

The Rosebud Annual (James Clarke and Co.), with its large

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print and easily understood reading, adapts itself well to the wants and tastes of younger children. The illustrations seem to us particularly good. The humorous pictures are...

Crown and Anchor. By J. C. Hutcheson. (F. V. White.)—

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Master Jack Vernon goes to sea at some time in the Fifties, getting his nomination through Sir Charles Napier, whose some- what eccentric personality helps to enliven the...

Tales from Hans Andersen. (A. Constable and Co.)—This volume contains

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five of the best-known, and perhaps we may say the best, of Hans Andersen's stories. These are "The Wild Swans," "The Ugly Duckling," " The Little Mermaid,"" The Storks," and "...

The Log of a Privateersman. By Harry Collingwood. (Blackie and

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Son.)—Mr. Collingwood's work naturally suggests a com- parison with that of Mr. Clark Russell, nor need such a com- parison be "odious." Each novelist has great merits. Mr....

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The Sunday Magazine. (Isbister and Co.)—One of the two serials

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is by Mrs. Marshall, which is sure to possess an attraction for many readers of the Sunday Magazine, and besides these two long stories there are nine short ones in single...

Aleph the Chaldean. By E. F. Burr, D.D. (Oliphant, Anderson,

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and Ferrier.)—The sub-title of the tale is "The Messiah as Seen from an Alexandrian Point of View." No small amount of pains has been expended, it is evident, in furnishing...

Round the Fire. Edited by Gertrude Fearon. (Simpk in, Marshall

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and Co.)—This " Selection of Poems and Ballads suit- able for Home and School" may be recommended without hesita- tion. There are some hundred and fifty of the poems and...

Good Words. (Isbister & Co.)—The three serial stories by W.

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Ray- mond, F. F. Montresor, and P. de Nanteuil, have a well-sustained interest, and in subject are great contrasts. " Under the Tricolour," by P. de Nanteuil, introduces us to...

The Pearl Divers. By Gordon Stables, M.D. (Nisbet and Cc.)

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—Dr. Gordon Stables chats with his readers in a homely and pleasant fashion. They must not expect an elaborately con- structed tale. It runs in a fairly constant train of...

Big Cypress. By Kirk Munroe. (S.S.U.)—This is a story with

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a purpose, a purpose to which the author devotes much energy, the setting forth of the wrongs of the Seminole Indians of Florida. But this characteristic does not interfere with...

The Story of Florence Nightingale. By W. J. Wintle. (S.S.U.)

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—It is needless to say that this is well worth reading. It is scarcely in the best taste to describe Miss Nightingale as " the Heroine of the Crimea." It is not, we may be...

Bessie Kitson. By G. Norway. (National Society.)—A very touching story

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this, but not such as to give useless distress to a sensitive reader. It tells how a child was rescued from the degradation to which her father's weakness seemed to have doomed...

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My Musical Recollections. By Wilhelm Kuhe. (Bentley and Son.)—Herr Kuhe

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was born more than seventy years ago. lie remembers many curious things that he has seen or heard him- self ; he has recorded not a few remarkable reminiscences of others. Here...

Taking French Leave. By L. E. Tiddeman. (National Society.) —The

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story of Will and Madge's playing truant contains, as it should, a most excellent moral, which will not be lost on youthful readers. It is a pretty story, and the manner in...

The Emperor's Englishman. By Fred Whishaw. (Hutchinson and Co.)—The Englishman

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who takes service with the Tsarevitch Paul at Gatchina, and does his best to defend his master against the plots of Catherine's Court, is sure to attract boys. Of course, the...

Memoir of Dr. Hawtrey. By Francis St. John Thackeray. (Bell

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and Sons.)—Dr. Hawtrey was head-master of Eton for close upon twenty years, and was a reformer,—one might almost say, for those days, an energetic reformer. There was need...

Baffling the Blockade. By J. Macdonald Oxley. (Nelson and Sons.)—This

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is the best story of adventure that the author has yet produced. It is pure adventure, and we have no sketches or portraits of either Northern or Southern people, if we except...

On the World's Roof. By J. Macdonald Oxley. (J. Nisbet

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and Co.)—A Thibetan story of adventure is somewhat of a novelty, and our author is certain to have readers among the juveniles. It is, however, a little disappointing, and Mr....

The White Dove of Antriteir. By Eliza F. Pollard. (Partridge

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and Co.)—Tales of the Mutiny must always have a peculiar fascination for most readers, and a writer, by introducing one or other of the famous men who carved out such undying...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The Portuguese in South Africa. By G. M. Theal, LL.D. (T Fisher Unwin )---" A very few years ago," says Dr. Theal, " when I prepared my large History, the expression South...

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Made in Germany. By Ernest Edwin Williams. (Heinemann.) -This book

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is full of alarming reading. It tells us how Germany is beating us in various manufactures, in the working of iron and steel, in ship-building, in textile, chemical, and other...

Letters to a Bride. By Mrs. Armstrong. (F. V. White

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and Co.) -Mrs. Armstrong includes in this volume " Letters to a D6bu- tante," so that she may be said to instruct her correspondents- the volume grew out of a column in a...

We have received Bibliographica, Part X. (Kegan Paul, Trench, and

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Co.) Among the contents are articles on "The Early English Writing-Masters," "Little Books," and "The Books of the Carthusians."

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London: Printed by WYMAN & Sows (Limited) at Nos. 74.78

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Great Queen Street, W.O.; and Published by Jona Jew's Mikan. of No. 1 Wellington Street, in the Precinct of the Savoy, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, at the "!SPECTATOR"...

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The long-expected debate in the German Diet on the Hamburg

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revelations came off on Monday, the Centre party, through Count Hompesch, demanding an explanation. This the Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, refused to give, alleging that the...

The rinderpest in South Africa appears likely to have a

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development which is quite terrible. Mr. Francis R. Thompson, a Member of the Cape Parliament, who was recently appointed Commissioner for the prevention of the plague, has been...

NEWS OF THE WEEK

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• T HE very remarkable speech which Lord George Hamilton delivered at Turnham Green on Tuesday will show to any careful reader precisely the strength and the weakness of our...

The Daily News, and, with more caution, the Daily Chronicle,

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both believe that a plan is afoot for remedying the disorder in Turkey by appointing Earopean Ministers to work under the Sultan. The Finance Minister would be an Englishman,...

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

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case.

Noricz. — With this week's " SPECTATOR." is issued, gratis, a

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LITERARY SUPPLEMENT.

prriator

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No. 3,569.] FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1896. [ REGISTERED MI • 3PRICE HD. NEWSPAPER. BY POST, 6{0.

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The inquiry instituted by the Works Committee of the London

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County Council into the administration of their Department shows that there has been a systematic falsifica- tion of the accounts by the subordinate officials. The Com- mittee...

Italy has made peace with the Negus of Abyssinia, the

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former agreeing not to extend Erythrea and the latter to re- lease the Italian prisoners upon receiving the cost of their keep. The Emperor, moreover, is declared absolutely...

Sir Frank Lockwood does not, we hope, regret his im-

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partiality in attacking Sir Edward Clarke last week for his strange appearance as the advocate of Venezuela, but this week at least he appears anxious to show that he is a very...

Mr. Chamberlain made an interesting speech yesterday week at a

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banquet of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, though to our mind he did pile it up, as the Yankees say, "a little too mountainous" when he declared it "not too much to say that...

Mr. Balfour is almost better than Mr. John Morley for

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the interestingness of his speeches, and far better for their political wisdom. He spoke at Rochdale on Tuesday at the National Union of Conservative Associations, both in the...

Mr. Arthur Adana, the Gladstonian Minister of Educa- tion, lays

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it down as the sine qud non of a good Educa- tion Bill that (1) "there must be reasonable equality in the treatment of Board-schools and voluntary schools ;" (2) "that any...

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At the Colston dinner at Bristol on Friday, November 13th,

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Lord Lansdowne complained of the neglect from which the Army suffered, his chief example being the failure of Parliament to pass a measure so vital to its interests as the...

We have discussed elsewhere the atrocious case of mili- tary

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privilege which has caused two days' debate in the German Parliament. Lieutenant von Briisewitz was sitting in a café, when an artisan named Siepmann pushed Tatber rudely past...

The Parisians were interested on Thursday in a ceremonial which

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may prove of importance in the history of Continental education. It was the inauguration of the " University of Paris." The Republicans have resolved to break up the ex-...

Mr. George W. E. Russell, Mr. P. W. Claydon, and

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Mr. H. J. Torr, none of them at present in the House of Commons, sent to Monday's Times a very terse, and in style a very imperious, letter, stating that after " a private...

The Spanish people are manifesting most creditable energy in their

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attempt to retain the island of Cuba. They have at once subscribed an internal loan of sixteen millions sterling for the prosecution of the war, have despatched still further...

At one minute past midnight on Monday last the Mayor

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of Buffalo ordered a salvo of twenty-one guns to announce the fact that the electric power generated by the Niagara Falls had reached the city. Twenty-six miles away "a lead off...

Bank Rate, 4 per cent.

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New Consols (2: 7 ) were on Friday, 1101. •

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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MR. BALFOUR AT ROCHDALE. M R. BALFOUR'S speech at Rochdale on Tuesday to the National Union of Conservative Associations was a very happy literary performance, but it was much...

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HONOUR AMONG KINGS.

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T HE great debate of Monday in the German Reichstag produced one speech of considerable importance, that of Baron von Marschall, the present Minister of Foreign Affairs. That...

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THE NEW CALAMITY IN SOUTH AFRICA.

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TT is seldom that we record any pleasant news from 4_ Africa. Events on the Dark Continent are usually calamities, as if the strange destiny which for three thousand years has...

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MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S PRAISE OF COMMERCE.

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W E rather think that Mr. Chamberlain was trying the effect of a little exaggeration on the minds of a Chamber of Commerce when he told the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce...

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THE MARCH OF THE MOTORS. T HE march of the motors

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from T•ondon to Brighton on Saturday, though it was partly spoiled, as everything in England is partly spoiled, by the enormous crowds drawn together to the show, seems to us...

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THE SCANDAL OF THE WORKS DEPARTMENT.

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A VERY grave scandal has come to light in connection with the London County Council. It has been discovered that the accounts of the Works Department have been "cooked" with an...

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OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS IN GERMANY. H ERR MUNCKEL, the Radical Member

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of the German Reichstag who brought forward the in. terpellation on duelling, made one very neat point. Military honour, he said in effect, divides the world into two...

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DAY-DREAMING IN POLITICS.

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A LMOST all men, perhaps all men with imaginations, are day-dreamers, and we suspect that a large section of them when they think about politics at all are political day-...

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MR. J. G. ROMANES'S RELIGIOUS POEMS.

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T HE publication of Mr. J. G. Romanes's poetical remains by Messrs. Longmans is hardly a great literary event, but it may be justly said that the President of Magdalen College,...

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TOWN MICE AND COUNTRY MICE.

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" U NIVERSAL live-stock providers" are advertising two expensive breeds of mice for members of the fancy. These are tortoiseshell mice, a variety of the tame mouse, and Japanese...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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LORD NELSON'S ENGLISH. [To THR EDITOR or THE “Srsoraror:1 SIR,—In speaking of the first proposed wording of the famous Trafalgar signal, in the Spectator of November 14th,...

MR. HARE'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

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[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sin, — In a review in the Spectator of October 31st I saw quoted, from Mr. Augustus Hare's autobiography, a very incorrect version of a...

UNCONSCIOUS PERVERSIONS.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THZ " SPECTATOR.''] SIR,—I think the following story is worthy of being recorded :—An illiterate person, after hearing her son preach for the first time,...

MR. BARING-GOULD'S " DARTMOOR IDYLLS."

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[TO THE EDITOR OP THIN " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your notice of Mr. Baring-Gould's " Dartmoor Idylls," . in the Spectator of October 31st, you cite the intended epitaph- of...

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A DOG-STORY.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR "] SpR,—We have an old broken-haired white terrier, who can -do almost everything except speak. He took lately to killing the fantail...

BOOKS.

The Spectator

LORD BL IsOFIFORD'S LETTERS.* LORD BLACHFORD, better known as Sir Frederic Rogers—he was made a Peer after his retirement in 1871—was for nearly thirty years an able public...

[*,* We are sorry to find that the letter in

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our last impression leaded " A Dog-Story," and signed " E. S. P. Haynos," dated from Balliol College, Oxford, was a forgery, and nut written by the Balliol undergraduate of that...

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MR. RUDYARD KIPLING'S NEW BALLADS.*

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No one can say that Mr. Rudyard Kipling's ballads have too much of idealism in them. Indeed, the puzzle is to discover why any form of verse should be appropriate to some of...

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MR. W. D. HOWELLS'S IMPRESSIONS.*

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IT is as a writer of stories that we are acquainted with Mr. W. D. Howells, particularly of delicate love-stories, abounding in that quaint humour, that "tossing about of...

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THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF DR. SAMUEL BUTLER.*

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TIM biography of a schoolmaster-Bishop published more than half a century after his death would seem to be somewhat belated. Few of his pupils, very few of the clergy with whom...

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EXPERIENCES IN MANIPUR.*

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Mum has been written within the last few years about Manipur, and, as we write, that distressful neighbourhood and its distressful history are being made the topic of an Oxford...

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THE JERNINGHAM LETTERS.*

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Tax Jerninghams and the Bedingfelds and the Dillons, the three great houses which have produced these two volumes of correspondence through the sympathetic interest of their...