The Cambridge Union Society. Inaugural proceedings. (Macmillan.) —In this neat
little book the speeches of Lord Houghton, Professor Selwyn, Professor Fawcett, and the others who took part in opening the Cambridge Union Buildings are collected, with a preliminary sketch of the University, and the newspaper comments on the solemn inaugu- ration. We are grateful for the place which is given to our own words on the subject, and we are pleased to accept the volume as a more tasting and more complete memorial than could be raised by newspaper reports and articles. But is it true that the maiden speech of Macaulay at the Cambridge Union was an attack on the political conduct of Hampden? Such is the statement of Mr. Whiteley, who acts as editor, and who seems to speak with authority. Had the statement come from one of the orators at the opening we should have taken it for a slip of the tongue, and though pens slip as well as tongues, both the occasion and the question are too important for an error.
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