the Government themselves, on their own responsibility, must be the judges of the " adequacy " of the assurance they might receive from the Opposition as to the passing of the...

to extort any pledge from the Opposition leaders as to passing the Franchise Bill in the Lords, until the Oppo- sition leaders had satisfied themselves that the Redistribution...

It is our intention occasionally to issue gratis with the SPECTATOR Special Literary Supplements, the outside pages of which will be devoted to Advertisements. The Ninth of...

with Prince Bismarck as President; and, according to correspond- ents, some thunderbolt is to be levelled against Great Britain. This country, however, demands nothing but...

in both Houses simultaneously—in the one by Lord Granville, and in the other by Mr. Gladstone—that though they could not take any step with regard to Re- distribution not of a...

case :

Session of the German Parliament just elected on Thursday, in a Speech from the Throne of much interest. He declared that the meeting at Skiernievice had " sealed " his...

from East Essex, expressing the utmost confidence in him as Tory Leader. His tone was quite changed, all the sarcasm and passion gone. He bad never, be said, claimed for the...

Northbrook's Report upon Egyptian Finances, and on Wednesday Reuter pub , lished a telegram from Alexandria professing to give its sub- stance. According to this account, his...

angrily to the telegram from Alexandria and to an article on it in the Times, both of which he declared to be "in- correct in several essential particulars" and "most...

Tuesday, and delivered to them his general view on Redistribution. He expressed great distrust of the results of any negotia- tion with the Tories ; declared himself in favour...

on the political situation, in which he argued for a sober foreign policy and a spirited domestic policy. He was-eager to get the Franchise Bill passed, if it could be done by...

should have been better satisfied with a heavier vote, —which, however, at a by-election, it seems impossible to secure. The Liberal candidate, Professor Stuart, polled, in the...

the Holborn Restaurant, to consider the position of agricul- ture, and to listen to a paper from Mr. Bear. Mr. Bear showed that prices had for ninety-four years never been so...

unmarried lady named Keyse, nearly seventy years of age, possessed of considerable means, and formerly employed about the Court, lived at Babbacombe,, near Torquay, in a pretty...

in- crease on the estimated revenue of the' year, and that as regarded expenditure the savings would cover the supplementary esti- mates in all the ordinary departments. But the...

very severe rebuke to the Roman Catholic journalists who, on the strength of their claim to be more orthodox than their own Bishops, attack the theology of such men as the late...

Warren, who left England this week, will have under his command 7,500 Regular troops of all arms, including an unusual proportion of Horse Artillery. It appears from his...

brought by Miss E. M. Finney, bearing the theatrical name of Fortescue, against Lord Garmoyle, eldest son of Earl Cairns, for breach of promise, came on in the Queen's Bench...

most serious injustice. He has been publishing, in the Pall Mall Gazette, a series of statements, which we entirely believe, as to Turkish atrocities in Macedonia; and in his...

THE SO-CALLED COMPROMISE. L ET those laugh who win. We can hardly understand the pretension of the Conservative journals to be entitled to laugh—and a very odd sort of grimace...

A S Mr. Bright justly said at the Eighty Club, it is very seldom a thing to be desired that a measure Liberal in its very essence, should be drawn cai lines concerted with the...

91HE Lords have a farther time of grace allowed them; but 1 it is far from certain that they will use it well. The single evilattending the Compromise is the resulting danger...

which was not altogether pleasant. Prince Edward of Wales attains his majority on January 8th, 1885; and the Govern- ment, either during this Session or early in the next, must,...

S TATESMEN who are also practical financiers are all-apt to take too high a view of Bondholders' claims. They regard States which have borrowed too much money notas nations, but...

no doubt as to the condition of arable farming in England. Those who are not agriculturists have been tempted during the past summer to think that now at last things must be...

T HE Report of the Select Committee of last Session on the working of the Charity Commission is eminently readable. Considerable excitement has been aroused in the country among...

last thirty years, in men of a certain nervous restlessness of intellect, to a process for which we can find no appropriate name, unless it be right to call it spiritual...

E XCEPT as an illustration of our frequent thesis, the in- adequate motive for most murders, the Babbacombe murder, though everybody is talking of it, is not an interesting one...

TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Whilst thanking you for your generous, appreciative review, I ask leave to explain one point in the compilation of the book of which you...

THE JUSTICE OF GOD. r To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR, —In your very interesting review of "Letters from Hell" (a needlessly coarse and unpleasant title), you have...

LTO THE EDTIOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your article of the 8th inst., on German colonisation, you speak as if all Europe were too fully peopled to admit of colonisation...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " EPECTATOR."] Sin,—" The falling away of the personal horizon" is an expres- sion used by your last correspondent which recalls some beautiful lines,...

A DUBLIN STREET DANCE. THERE'S nothing in life like a Jig or a Reel ; First a tap with your toe, then a drum with your heel, And now doable-shuffle, and next heel-and-toe, And...

jTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 Sin,—In your "Current Literature" column last week, you write of the annual volume of "Good Words" :—" Among the more important papers, we...

Mn. JULIAN HAWTHORNE has given us here a very charming picture of the relations of his father and mother, and has con- trived to convince us how much of the tranquillity and...

AMONG the gift-books of the winter season this noble volume deserves to be a prime favourite. A folio in size, it is beauti- fully printed on hand-made paper, with rough edges....

of the celebrated Discourses, published in a dainty vellum cover and printed on rough paper, and edited • Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Edited and Annotated by Edmund Gesso...

of everybody for the two books that he contributes for the gratification of "our boys" during • Bunyip Land and Menkardoc. By G. Manville Fenn. Louden; BlaCkie and Son. the...

Tins book is of a pleasant quality, but there is not enough of it. It reminds us of the often-quoted " Marchioness's " experi - ence of beer. Mr. Payn gives us only a series of...

GIFT-BOOKS. The Mystery of Beechey Grange. By the Rev. H. C. Adams. (Griffith and Farran.)—The "mystery " is not of much account. He mast be a very inexperienced reader who...

by C. L. Mateaux (Cassell and Co.), but we may recommend it for a convenient account, adorned with plenty of illustrations, of the sights of London.

difficult to say whether nonsense is or is not too nonsensical or nonsensical enough. The drawings in the highly exaggerated French style, and the verses, which are decidedly...

J. A. Miles. (Wells Gardner, Darton, and Co.)—This is a pathetic little story, founded on fact, of a child of six, who strips himself of his clothing to keep a younger child of...

Ewing, and pictured by R. Andr6 ; and Dolly's Housekeeping, by the same author (S.P.C.K.), are, as we might expect, very amusing. We know by experience that the children like...

one page hymns, well selected from the best sources, and on the other corresponding passages from the Old and New Testament, with appropriate illustrations. The pages are...

as have also The Children's Journey, and Other Stories, by the Author of "Voyage en Zigzag ;" and Marquis and Rosette, and the Easter Daisy, by the Baroness E. Martineau de...

Farran.)—Children undoubtedly like to hear about other children, and here they may have their taste amply gratified. Miss Miller tells, in a style perhaps too condescendingly...

(Religious Tract Society.)-1 " tnela " is a religious fair, something, we may presume, like a Breton pardon ; and Mr. Badley, who gives as a second title to his book—" Glimpses...

Lang. After the Drawings of Richard Doyle. (Longmans.)—Mr. Lang writes a fairy story, and writes it as may be supposed, very well, to suit the well-known drawings of goblins,...

supply of illustrations, among which are some "slate pictures" (adapted thus for drawing upon a transparent slate), and very simple and easy letterpress. These between them...

S. Mor- wood. (John Hogg.) —It is an excellent idea to connect the know- ledge of Nature with the thought of kindness and tenderness to dependent creatures. Much o? the...

illus. tmtions_photogmvures from original paintings—of the passage in "As You Like IL" The last of the seven is not very intelligible. The " Justice " should, we think, have...

Tract Society.)—Here are various stories of country life of various kinds, some relating some little incident of ordinary life, some, as " The Wayward Chicken," a little in Hans...

Society.) —This simple rendering of the Gospel story has long been a favourite of mire. It now appears in a handsome volume with coloured illustrations.

bearing on artistic matter, some criticism on the artist, or other appropriate matter. We are somewhat tired of this particular form of literature; but " The Birthday-book of...

Schwenckert and W. G. Wallis, 112 Fleet Street—have sent us a box of their Fac-simile Water-Colour Cards. Messrs. Meissner and Bach are endeavouring to carry chrome-lithography...

(Blackie and Son.)—" Cast Away on Kerguelen Land" is the second title of this story. Between the two it is sufficiently well described. There is shipwreck and there is life on a...

for 1885, illustrated by herself in colours. The figures of the months are prettily designed. There are also figures of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter as girls, and two...

and Son.) —Mr. Henty tells us here a story of the American War of Independence, and puts us on the side which has not generally been the favourite with the writers of...

we have some twenty "stories of danger and daring." They have been diligently sought for in many out-of-the-way quarters. Indeed, many of them will be new to most readers. And...

sent us specimens of their Christmas and New. Year's Cards,—some of them coloured photographs of sea-pieces, which are very pretty ; some delicate facsimiles of designs in...

thoroughly well-intentioned book, and not without some literary merit, but scarcely successful as a story.

Farran.)—Phillis Carr, who is acting as companion to a distant relative, and endures all the miseries that her situation can mean, falls-in at a watering-place with a family of...

"story for quiet hours," as Mr. Garrett calls it, is scarcely a story at all, so slight is the thread of incident, Sarah Russell, who has missed "what every woman counts her...

"story of the Arteveldts " takes us back to a period of great events and great emotions. Mr. Hoare has before proved his power to blend fiction with history, and we gladly...

St. John- ston. (Macmillan and Co.)—Mr. St. Johnston has mixed his in- gredients with admirable skill, and made a story which ought to be a great favourite with the young. There...

of this magazine is now before us, and keeps up to the average of its predecessors. The frontispiece is an etching, "Lady Bountiful," by Robert W. Macbeth, A.R.A., in which the...