THE MAGAZINES.

THE larger magazines are dull this month. There are plenty of useful papers, but nothing specially striking ; while the padding is generally a grave disquisition on some subject con- nected with labour, or licensing, or landlords,—all important topics, no doubt, but apt to be a little tedious. The best is the

Nineteenth Century, in which the Duke of Argyll concludes a powerful but acrid monograph on Wolfe Tone, the Irish con- spirator of 1798. The Duke maintains that this celebrated patriot was, on his own showing, a ferocious personage, animated

almost entirely by his own passions, who fought against England not like a revolutionary leader, but like a brigand.

He proposed to let loose the Bande Noire, which had per- petrated such horrors in La Vendee, on the British coasts, and himself wrote out orders to burn Bristol to the ground, and endeavoured, says the Duke, to extort money from Carnot by an anonymous letter, containing threats of assassination. His hatred of England could not be surpassed by the most ferocious among modern dynamiters, and seems to have struck even himself now and then as senseless. His leading idea was to rescue Ireland by the aid of a French army, but all his schemes miscarried, one of them being baffled, like the Armada, by the weather ; and when at last a small

expedition of nine ships did sail, with himself on board, the squadron was defeated by a British force, and Wolfe Tone captured and sentenced to be hanged. He escaped only by suicide. He fought bravely in the engagement, and was entirely free from the modern habit of whining because

the Government, when hit, struck back. If the Duke's account of him is correct, however, courage and a certain consistency in his hatreds were his only redeeming qualities.

—Mr. Wilfrid Ward sends a closely-reasoned paper, which he calls "New Wine in Old Bottles," and which is sub- stantially an argument that, though truth is invaluable, and that all truth must be consistent, old trnthne eds protection as much as new, which, however, often threatens to drown or carry away the old. Rome, therefore, in summarily condemning innovations in thought which seemed likely to sweep away in their first rush ancient and well-proved ideas, was not so narrow as she often appeared to impatient minds. She secured time for full consideration, and when the dangerous epoch bad passed often assimilated much of the new teaching, which had, as it cleared itself of hypothesis and exaggeration, become reconcilable with Christian faith :—

"A provisional concession to a school of criticism, which may at the moment enjoy undue ascendency, may be needed for in- dividual consciences, and yet it would be very unwise to commit the Church finally to such a concession : and conversely the general and public inculcation of new and startling views, wholesale, may be dangerous, even though they should ultimately prove to be in great measure true. The discoveries of science are among the acknowledged criteria used by the Church in the explanation of Scripture ; but the time is probably far distant when we shall be able to appraise with confidence many of the tentative conclusions of Reuss and Welhausen."

The difficulty in that argument is that a Church claiming to be infallible can hardly give forth an utterance which shall be at once authoritative and provisional, and is compelled

therefore either to announce what is really a hasty decision, involving a subsequent necessity for informal retractation, or to allow new ideas to pass unnoticed with the consequent risk to the faith of at least one generation. Rome will, we doubt not, in the end assimilate some of the teaching of Darwin, but intermediately she refrains from judging, and during that time helps the consciences and faith of her votaries no more than the Protestant Churches do.—Dr. Jessopp defends almshouses against the Charity Commissioners and other modern icono- clasts with his usual piquant mixture of humour and fury, but we fear he will not be held to have made out his case. If

our population were not so great and did not increase so'

rapidly, his plan, wisely administered, might be a kindly graft upon the new Poor-Law ; but, things being as they are, we fear it would only relieve the suffering of a very few, leaving the greater number of the poor unhelped and uncared for. It seems hard to take the old charities to help on education, or remodel them, as at Norwich, so as to make them a new pre- ventive of pauperism ; but we suspect that a harsh course like the unsympathising administration of the 'Unions is the beat for the majority. Pleasant almshouses, after all, are but concrete arguments against providing for old age. We wish, like Dr. Jessopp, heartily wish, that we could build and endow

a few ; but is that wish the offspring of hard sense, or of the unreasoning kindliness which does so much to weaken the springs of self-help P The following paragraph is to us new.

Dr. Jessopp alleges that when the monasteries were dissolved, not only were five hundred " hospitals " or sets of almshouses swept away, but thirty thousand benefit societies :—

" That was bad enough ; but there were more than thirty thousand guilds that were stripped of their all by a sweep of the pen. The guilds answered partly to our trades-union societies, partly to benefit clubs. Some of them had existed for centuries ; some had large accumulated funds, the savings of generations of penurious thrift, grown habitual to those poor toilers by the dis- cipline of long training in the duty of providing for the future. There was not a village in the land that was not ruthlessly de- spoiled of its little hoards. The guilds were absolutely looted : they lost every farthing they possessed, every rag and cup and platter. The gangs of ruffians did their work so thoroughly among the frightened villagers, that not only were they beggared, but the whole machinery of self help which had been at work from time immemorial was absolutely extinguished."

But if that is true, why was it borne? Every parish in England must have felt the wrong, and there was no physical force at the disposal of the Court. Were not the benefits of these guilds closely limited to the few P—Mr. W. S. Lilly sends a fine analysis of M. Bourget's novel, "The Disciple," a horrible story of a materialist who, putting his master's theories into action, "increases his psychological knowledge" by experimenting upon the feelings of a young girl, who, dis- covering the truth too late, commits suicide. The story is most powerfully written, but we are not quite so sure of its good effect. No materialist will believe that he is in danger of making such horrible experiments, and reading about them has, we suspect, the effect of attending a vivisecting class. It dulls instead of increasing the instinctive horror of such cruelty.

M. du Chailla, in the Fortnightly Review, adds nothing to our knowledge of the "great equatorial forest of Africa," his object being rather to state that he traversed it before Stanley did, and that the discoveries of the later explorer only con- firm his own statements, many of which, when they first

appeared, were as much derided as those of Bruce.—The most original paper in the number is therefore one by Sir Henry Pottinger, who gives an account of one of the vast estates which still exist in the Northern districts of Norway.

This estate, called Vefsen, covers two thousand square miles, the area of Suffolk, and belongs to the North of Europe Land Company, who breed salmon on it, work the birch forests, and build hotels to invite tourists in search of sport. The estate has in its centre a magnificent lake, called Rosvand, surrounded by some of the most magnificently wild scenery of the North.

Just beyond its northern extremity, Sir Henry came upon glaciers hitherto, he says, undescribed

"I do not remember to have looked upon more terribly beautiful ice scenery than we now beheld. Possibly the rolling vapour which obscured the peaks and the sky-line exaggerated its mysterious grandeur whilst rendering the extent indefinite. The main body of the glacier was concealed, at a considerably higher level than we had reached, by the enormous rocky base of an aiguille which towered immediately in front of us, but right and left it descended from the clouds in two branches, with walls, battlements, and terraces of ice rising tier over tier, until lost in the mist, with huge sloping surfaces scored into a thousand monstrous furrows, showing awful gleams of blue depths here and there, and tossed into all shapes of fantastic horror where the pressure from above forced the writhing glacier round the buttresses of the mountain. Despite the cold, we sat there a long time, with the faint hope that the clouds might rise, but beyond a fleeting glimpse of a white dome of far-off upper snow, and of nearer black cliffs with dreadful masses of pendant ice, we saw no more. Is we sat, a herd of many reindeer made their appearance out of the depths below, and passed along the base of the mountain down into the valley, where they congregated to feed on a green flat broken up into islands by a dozen milky streams which issued from the farther branch of the glacier."

Sir Henry Pottinger's account of the estate is far too brief and scrappy ; but we venture to say it will this year send many adventurous tourists to the extreme North in search of the lonely picturesqueness which here, within a few miles of the Arctic circle, may be enjoyed in perfection.—Mr.

Bourchier's "Glance at Contemporary Greece" shows M. Trikoupes, the Premier, as a man intent on internal reform, releasing the peasantry from over-taxation, and placing the finances on a sound basis. The latter task is most diffi- cult, for though an equilibrium has been secured in the Budget, taxation has been pushed as far as it can go, and the people suffer under it. The Parliament, too, is factions, and the Oppo- sition recently resorted to obstruction for a month in order to defeat the Budget. M. Trikoupes, however, who is trusted, though not personally liked, being considered far too frigid, held firm, passed his Budget at last, after a seventeen hours' sitting, and retains power, though even his friends occasionally declare that he has ruled too long, and that other parties want their turn. His eloquence seems to be his chief defence against attacks which, in Mr. Bourchier's opinion, arise mainly from the hunger for office, and the Greek impatience of discipline of any kind, which extends even to the Army. Mr. Bourchier tells us incidentally that the English removal of the tax on 'currants, effected since he wrote, will be of the greatest advantage to Greece and to her Premier.—We may notice Mr. Coventry Patmore's apologia hereafter, and the only other essay of interest is one on "The Latest Discoveries in Hypnotism," by Dr. J. Luys, Physician to La Charite, who declares that an extraordinary number of men and women are liable to be hypnotised, and that they are sometimes imperfectly awakened, and when in that state are irresponsible for their actions, though to other people they appear to possess their usual faculties. He gives an extraordinary account of the exaggeration of optical power in some hypnotised persons :—

"The patient's eyes are wide open, fixed and motionless ; the pupil is especially affected. His excessive power of sight reaches such an extraordinary pitch of acuteness that if we cover his eyelids with a layer of cotton wool and then put a newspaper in front of his eyes, we are amazed to see that he can read it, no doubt through some tiny cracks imperceptible to us. Suppose we show to him, behind a wooden screen one-fifth of an inch thick, balls of coloured glass, calculated by their colours to arouse in him different emotions ; the usual faculty is so super-perceptive -that the patient feels through the screen the different vibrations of light and reacts correlatively. Show him, for example, behind -this screen a blue ball, he will exhibit signs of sadness ; show him a yellow one, and he will be all gaiety and hilarity, and so on."

We have elsewhere noticed Mr. Donald's account of American Trusts, the best article in the Contemporary Review, which is too entirely devoid of light matter; and Mr. Thorold

Rogers' on "Vested Interests" is well worth reading, as the strongest statement of the case against them which any one is likely to see. We confess it leaves us entirely uncon- vinced. It may be sheer stupidity, but we cannot perceive the difference between a perpetual pension legally voted to Marshal Schomberg, and a perpetual pension legally granted

to a creditor of the State. Mr. Rogers says there was no value received from the Marshal ; but who is to judge that, except the granters of the pension ? There was no value received for a large portion of the National Debt, the Exchequer giving bonds for £100 when it had only received £60, but still the money is due. Mr. Rogers seems to think that the money value of a man's property to him is all its value, and that he has no claim for violent disturbance, and never even alludes to the utility of a money check on the rapacity of the public, which wants things it has no right to just as often as individuals do. It has no right whatever to a man's house, unless it distinctly benefits by taking it ; but if it can take it at its market value, may take it merely to enjoy possession, or to spite him. Mr. Rogers implies that tithe being a tax may be taken away without compensation, just as the profits of a protected industry may be taken away when Free-trade is declared ; but his argument assumes all the data. Why is tithe a tax any more than any other rent charge? We understand the argument that the State may take anything, if it takes it from all alike ; but why tithe any more than dower secured on land P—Lord Coleridge's thin paper on "The Law in 1847 and the Law in 1889," is chiefly valuable as testimony by the Lord Chief Justice that law is being steadily simplified ; but the anecdotes make it enter- taining. Here is one which, from any other month, we should have deemed incredible :—

"In a Divorce Bill, before the creation of the Divorce Court, and heard, therefore, in the House of Lords, there was clear evidence that a woman resembling the incriminated wife had been seen in a compromising position with a young groom in the stable- yard of a nobleman's castle. The attorney knew that the wife herself was the woman, and he suggested this to the counsel, but said that there was a maid, whom I will call Rose, upon whom sus- picion might plausibly be thrown. Suspicion, happily unsucces- fully, was thrown upon Rose by the counsel, who actually told the story himself; and when somewhat roundly taken to task for it, calmly observed 'that he had followed his instructions, but that he always felt it was rather hard upon Rose."

Callous scoundrels are not of this day only. We cannot think "Brought Back from Elysium," an imaginary conversa- tion among novelists, up to Mr. Barrie's best humorous form ; but this condensed criticism on some American novels is in its way nearly perfect :—" American : The story in a novel is of as little importance as the stone in a cherry. I have written three volumes about a lady and a gentleman who met on a car.—Sir Walter : Yes, what happened to them ?— American : Nothing happened. That is the point of the story."—Mr. Montague Crackanthorpe gives us a painful

picture of the perils of trustees, but objects to Lord Halsbury's remedy, the appointment of a Public Trustee. He thinks such an officer will be too expensive to the Trust. That argument would be perfectly sound, and final too, if anybody wbre com- pelled to employ him ; but why debar a testator from choosing an expensive but perfectly safe Trustee if he likes? The arrange-

ment at its worst only offers to the community a new choice in trustees. It may be said that with such an officer in existence, private persons will refuse trusts ; but that is only true in the cases where the private person ought never to have been asked, and where, therefore, in being enabled to refuse he is relieved of an oppression.—Mr. Hodgkin's plan for the settlement of Palestine is, as he admits in his title, Utopian. He wants Palestine to be vested in a European Commission, which shall govern it in an ideal way with a single view to the improvement of the country, which may thus be turned into a model State. We should have thought Mr. Hodgkin had seen enough of international government in Egypt. A Prince might govern well in the name of Europe, or the Jews might govern well if they were restored, but an International Commission would be simply a Cabinet without a Premier, and with all its Members differing in aspirations, policy, and prejudices. Mr. Hodgkin, by-the-way, says the restoration of the Jews is nearly impossible, because Jews are not fit for peasant life ; but where would his International Commission get its peasants?—Mr. Haiveis argues, in a paper on the Broad Church, that the Church needs doctrinal reform, that the Broad Church can introduce it from within, and that it is quite honest for a Broad Church clergy to do it. That depends upon a good many conditions besides the good intent of the clergy, none of which Mr. Haweis sets out clearly. If he means, as from one hint in his article we think he does mean, that a clergyman may assent to the Articles, and repeat the Creed every Sunday, and teach that the Incarnation was not a fact, we disagree with him. He might just as well take an Arabic Chair and teach German.—The Duke of Argyll puts in a most eloquent argument against the applications of the theory of betterment which find favour with the County Council; but we have only room for this smashing rejoinder to the plea as put forward in the special case of the Strand Improvement :—

"In the particular case of the Strand improvement, the violence of the proposal is rendered more conspicuous by every possible surrounding circumstance. It is an improvement loudly demanded by the convenience of the whole public of London, and, it may almost be said, of the United Kingdom. The Strand is the main artery of traffic in a city which is not only the metropolis of London, but the metropolis of the commercial world. It is through the Strand that every man must go who wishes to reach the Bank of England, or the Stock Exchange, or the Docks, or St. Paul's Cathedral. The proposed widening of this great artery of imperial traffic is specially connected with a better access to the Courts of Justice. In this, every subject of the Queen is, or may be, personally in- terested. There never was a case in which any work or outlay was more specially connected with the service of enormous multi- tudes of .nen. Mr. Rae himself, in quoting American precedents, admits that it is' wrong to impose a local assessment for a general benefit."

Where is or can be the answer to that ?