Lord Stanley on Wednesday took the chair at the eightieth
annual dinner of the Royal Literary Fund, and made an extremely cold speech, prefacing it by the remark that he had read the records of previous dinners, and thought everything had been said that .eauld be said about the Fund. He had looked through the bluebooks in fact, and as they suggested nothing, he confined himself to the state and prospects of the fund, both of which are satisfactory. It has £2,700 a year, and the list of those whom it assists includes sixty 'names of the highest distinction in English and even in foreign literature. No branch of the profession and no country in Europe has been excluded ; some of those assisted have risen subsequently to prosperity, and Lord Stanley hinted that they might regard the assistance as a debt of honour, and refund it in contributions—a hint which suggests that the literary class is not exempt from the failing of ingratitude.
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