states that the new Emperor Kwangsu, though only eighteen, is believed by those having access to the Palace to be a man of much intellectual capacity, with a decided will of his...

X. Jules Ferry has been defeated by the peasantry, who cannot forgive his expenditure of conscripts in Tonquin. He is a loss to the Opportunists, to whom he gave backbone ; but,...

a head. Queen Natalie has taken a house in Belgrade, and announces her intention of residing there. As she is popular with the mass of the voters, and has great influence with...

Prince Bismarck, publishes some alarmist "revela- tions " as to the policy now dominant in Russia. General Obrutcheff, Chief of the Staff and head of the Panslavist party,...

T HE French Elections came off on Sunday, and ended in a total defeat of the Boulangist coalition. They have carried, or may carry at the second ballots, six districts of Paris...

case.

the General himself, M. Naquet his thinking man, M. Laguerre his trumpeter, and M. Deroulede his Tyrta3us, are the most important ; but the General himself will not, it is said,...

from the Hyde Reform Club, Cheshire, sent to congratulate him on his golden wedding, and made a speech which, like most of his speeches of late, was a little mixed. He made some...

to 3,078, being seven more than his majority in 1885, when he polled 4,761 votes to 3,460 given to Mr. Sharpe. The reduced figures are due, it is said, to an actual decline in...

been sending home accounts of his successful attempt to scale the Owen Stanley range, the loftiest chain of mountains in his dominions. The highest crest of the ridge, found to...

Secretary of State, is steadily pursuing one favourite object of his policy. His agents have summoned a " Congress" of North, Central, and South America, which will, we imagine,...

his hearers to one of those massive pieces of oratory in which he excels. The chief points in the address, which was mainly occupied with Ireland, we have dealt with at length...

the Sleaford Corn Exchange, Mr. Stanhope, the Secretary of State for War, made one of those common- sense, commonplace speeches which always delight the hearts of the...

Irish University Education. In the first, addressed to Mr. C. H. Firth, he points out the absurdity of the Gladstonians com- plaining of Rome-rule being established by aid given...

letters on compulsory games at the Public Schools, a number of corre- spondents complaining of the fact that boys are forced to play football and cricket against their will. No...

her one of the most famous titles in English history becomes New Console (24) were on Friday 94 to 97. extinct. The peerage ended with the death of her husband, who was the...

satis- fied till they have made England as easy of invasion as Belgium, and have endowed us with the blessings of the conscription, is to throw a huge iron bridge across the...

last murder in Whitechapel, and the body of the victim has not been identified. The coroner's jury on Tuesday returned a verdict of " Murder against some one unknown," and it is...

American and the Irish most quickly. Men come back from a month's visit to the States talking through their noses, and from an Irish trip with their voices permanently softened....

the Diocesan Conference of Carlisle on the relation of the Church to Socialism. He thought that the Church should be Socialist so far as the grand object of Socialism—the...

I F it were not disrespectful—for we have little patience with disrespect towards a statesman still so great— we should say that Ireland, which was Mr. Gladstone's subject, had...

THE FRENCH ELECTIONS. T HE French habit of demanding a second ballot when- ever a candidate fails to obtain a majority of all the votes polled, impairs the dramatic effect of a...

T HE quality which gives Mr. Courtney his unique position in politics is his sincere, and to a large extent well-founded, belief in his ability to set the world right. Most men...

alter, or even to get fully dis- cussed, as a traditionary practice. Everybody is talking of the Sleaford election ; dozens of articles have been written about it; the leader of...

I T is an interesting theme for speculation, how an ignorant, obscure, and in the world's estimation poor man, would comport himself, and what would be his feelings, if Dame...

T HE demand for responsible government which came from Western Australia is evidently backed up by the effective public opinion of the aspiring continent, which desires to see...

problems of marvellous interest solved before its eyes all over the world. None, however, will surpass those connected with the future of the South American Continent. The...

was a very unusual one. He was an extremely popular writer— deservedly popular, as we think—who was not very highly esteemed. Of all the Englishmen who read novels, few have...

O NLY through inequality is progress possible. Such is the message of science to mankind which Professor Flower expounded in his evening lecture at Newcastle. The study of the...

T HE success of the new melodrama at the Adelphi Theatre is so obvious and unequivocal, that one may not unfairly • hope to discover, by summarising the main features of Messrs....

THE DIVINING-ROD. LTO THE EDITOR OF TIER " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—Like " Vacuus Viator," I was present at an exhibition of the " divining-rod " where deception, self or intentional,...

gives a story with reference to Sir Joseph Banks and a rain-shower which is of considerably older date. In " Joe Miller's Jest-Book" it is told of Sir Isaac Newton. In "...

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —As a country clergyman, I feel moved to write to you on the subject discussed by Mr. Reaney in his letter. He finds that...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] Srn, — I have long been familiar with the sapphies quoted by your correspondent, " L. J. J.," in your issue of September 21st ; but they...

SIR,—Perhaps it may interest some of your readers who have read about the " divining-rod" in your issue of September 21st, to know that a similar experiment was made in this...

THE CALM OF NATURE. [`` The tranquil rhythm of this fair Nature, the hurrying throb of the human interests it measures : there is the eternal poem of human life."—From the...

THE SAGAS OF THE NORSE KINGS.* THE first edition of this translation of the Heimskringla appeared more than forty years ago. The translator, a retired officer of the British...

Tun specialty of Signor Lanciani's book is the store of in- formation which it supplies as to the material life of ancient Rome, its baths, parka and gardens, public libraries,...

THOUGH the title-page of The Tree of Knowledge gives only the initial letters of its author's Christian name, no reader of average discrimination can entertain any doubt that it...

WHAT especially strikes us in this pleasant book is the writer's delightful knack of making one see with his eyes and become imbued with his impressions. Well-known places,...

Tars very pleasantly written volume affords abundant proof that Mr. Romilly is the very man for the task he has accepted, of paving the way for such civilisation as the natives...

F. de M. Malan, R.N. (Sampson Low and Co.)—Eris and Connie are a boy and girl who live with an uncle in Burwood, a suburb of Sydney, and whom he takes on a cruise among the...

eleventh volume his gigantic task of The People's Bible (Hazell, Watson, and Viney). The book of " Job " is his present subject. His treatment is, as may be supposed, homiletic....

Bohemia. By T. Vernaleken. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—This is a reissue, with neat illustrations, of a book published some years ago by the same firm. The sixty tales given,...

and Haynes.)—One may get an idea of the com- plexity of the subject, of the vast variety of details which it embraces, and, consequently of the enormous labour which the writer...

A Change of Clothes. By Alfred Fitzmaurice King. (Simpkin and Marshall.)—This story, the first of a series which is to bear the title of " Our Books," is a very humorous...

Paul, Trench, and Co.)—This tale, reprinted from one of the illustrated papers, is a realistic study of the most painful kind. The truth- fulness of its details makes itself...

Low and Co.)—There is abundance of curious and interesting matter in this volume. Passing by the earlier periods, we come to " Bookselling in the Time of Shakespeare." " Few...

volume six essays of considerable merit dealing with literary subjects. The second is a vigorous defence of the genuineness, or, it should rather be said, the partial...

Lockhart. (Blackwood and Sons.)—Mr. Lockhart deals with his subject by telling his readers what is known of the life of an active Churchman of the thirteenth century, David de...

(T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh.)—The volume now before us (divided, for convenience' sake, into two parts) deals with an important part of the great subject indicated by the...

(Hurst and Blackett.)—Jack Manders, heir to a very proud and stubborn old squire, meets at Monte Carlo a pretty young woman who is left desolate by the suicide of the only...

is a miscellaneous volume with not as many good stories in it as one might have been expected. Music is the specialty of the author, but he has something to tell us about...

and Notes, by T. Herbert Bindley, M.A., Merton Coll., Oxford. (Clarendon Press.)—The "Apology for the Christians" is one of the most interesting and useful of Tertullian's...

on "Free Public Libraries" has followed it up (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.) with Museums and Art Galleries. Although he is an enthu- siast as regards the educational value of...

Co.)—This memoir, "written for the ' Social Circle' in Concord," gives an interesting picture of the man "in his habit as he lived." " I write," says the author in his preface,...

occasion to speak favourably of Mr. Watson's "A Year in the Field," it gives us much pleasure to say that his new book, giving sketches of bird and animal life in Britain, is in...