NATURAL HISTORY AND HORTICULTURE.* WE have often heard good parents expressing regrets that they knew no natural history, and could not teach their children or answer their...

LONDON: DECEMBER 5th, 1908.

on a special historical or literary subject, appearing almost simultaneously, can both be sincerely praised. This, however, is the case with Mrs. Ady's two volumes on Baldassare...

LOVERS of Mr. Lucas's books will be delighted with this volume of stories. The combination of thoroughly real children and grown-up people with very quaint incidents is most...

IL were noticed in the Spectator of January 21st, 1905—the stoiy of the decline and fall of Napoleon's Empire. The decline began in Spain; the fall came about at Waterloo. The...

SOME SEA-FIGHTS.* WE have felt a certain hesitation in including this volume among "Gift-Books." We need hardly say that we mean no kind of disrespect when we do so. What we...

6s.)—Mr. Gillie rightly begins with a piece of sound doctrine. The "prophet "—by the " Lantern-Bearers" is meant the prophets of Israel—was chiefly a setter forth of...

'Is this volume, again, we have asked ourselves more than once, —is it to be classed as a " gift-book " or a " novel" ? We can only say that it is absolutely free from...

3s. 6d. per vol.) is one that should find favour with a large class of readers. There are four volumes before us,— Volcanoes and Earthquakes, by E. J. Houston, Ph.D.; The...

and Co. 5s.)—Most entertaining and illuminating is Mr. Grew's handling of modern geology. He puts the pith, the striking facts, clearly before us, and has been more successful...

6d.)— Mr. Bell knows boys and men, as his "Tales from Greyhouse " proved, and Jim Mortimer is simply a grown-up boy, and a very fine boy too. The art of self-defence figures...

and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—Patty comes from one of the Colonies to England, and finds herself somewhat at a loss. After certain adventures she becomes an inmate of a girls'...

and Co. 2s.)—This is a picturesque story of the days of Queen Elizabeth. The great Queen, Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Leicester, Sir Walter Raleigh, appear on the stage, and...

5s.)— There is a certain audacity about this "Tale of the 'Britannia." "Barring out" at schools we have heard of; but a mutiny on board a training-ship,--is it possible? Has...

and Sons. 2s. 6d.)—It is almost inevitable that an author who writes of old-world France should challenge comparison with -a well-known novelist who has made this field of...

Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—This "Tale of the Boxer Rebellion" is a very spirited bit of work. The subject is well chosen; there are few things in our history that should...

and Son. 2s. 6d.)—This is a story of the Crusades, with a some- what complicated plot. The author might have got his heroes to the scenes of their adventures in a simpler...

magazine that endeavours to cater for the tastes of "boys throughout the English-speaking world" must neces- sarily cover a wide range. And this Young England certainly does....

Co. 5s.)—One reads the many thrilling stories of shipwreck in Mr. Stead's volume with very mingled feelings, for there are the dark shades of dreadful suffering and death in...

Culley. 5s.)—Mr. Bullen writes with his accustomed directness and simplicity. The conventionalities of tale-writing do not please him. It seems very hard, for instance, on...

6s.)—There is much that is admirable in the character- drawing of Lady Gilbert's tale, though there is sometimes to be seen in it the weakness of exaggeration. Harvey Durrant...

3s. 6d.)—This book, dedicated to Lieutenant-General Baden- Powell, is designed to commend to young readers the "boy-scout" movement, which was initiated by that distinguished...

Partridge and Co. 3s. 61)—The reader will not want for sensa- tions when he comes to read about the Earl. He finds two to begin with; the very independent agent who consents...

R. Chambers. 6s.)—The Whitley family have come down in the world, and they have to do something to eke out their very scanty means. One thing is to have their amusement...

and Mrs. J. B. Drake. (Macmillan and Co. 38. 6d.)—Very quaint and interesting are these fairy-tales from Swaziland, Zululand, and Matabeleland. Perhaps the first, a really...

is some skill in character-drawing, and the triels and trOnbles of workaday households are realised with force ad directness, but the_atmosphere of the book is gloomy, and the...

ls.)—A well-written, pathetic little story, with vivid pictures of life in a Plymouth slum. In tales of this kind how far the writer may introduce the element of what for...

C. and E. C. Jack. 6d.)—We think this series, couched in simpla language and describing the denizens of sundry localities—in this case the garden—an admirable...

L. T. Meade has two, The School Favourite and The School Queens, both published by Messrs. W. and R. Chambers (5s. and 3s. 6d.) In the first the central ineident is the fate of...

Anderson, and Ferrier. 3s. 6d.)—In this pretty Christmas idyll we are presented with a faithful and loving portrait of a stern old Scotchman, who, having been sundered from...

Stacpoole. (S.P.C.K. la 6d.)—We are a little surprised to find a clan of cattle-lifters in Scotland apparently in quite modern times— the talk of the characters is modern...

Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.)—There is much colour and picturesque incident in this tale of an Englishman's adventures in Rome and Florence during the turbulent times of the...

and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—Harry Arterburn, upon whom has devolved the maintenance of his brothers and sisters, under- takes the tutoring of an idle, spoilt youth. The task seems...

Joseph,' born in the Jardin des Plantes, comes into the possession of two Frenchmen, Henri and Charles, is brought over to England, and has various adventures, beginning with a...

6s.)—A portion of Mr. Henty's mantle has undoubtedly fallen on Mr. Collingwood, even to the didactic tone and the long speeches, but with a dash and a flavour of the sea all...

and Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.)—Mr. Curtis is very successful in dealing with the England of King John's time, and has chosen the period when Lewis of France comes over at the...

net.)—This is the story of a dog, but not of a common kind. It is full of adventure, of ups and downs of fortune, one might say of tragedy. We begin with his puppyhood—there...

Co. 8s. 6d.)—Blockade-running is always a stirring motive for a story of adventure, and this story of Finland's struggle for autonomy opens well with a dash for the Aland...

ART-BOOKS. Chip - Carving. By Eleanor Rowe. (B. T. Batsford. ls.)—This little book is written with complete technical knowledge and great clearness of statement. Chip-carving...

6d. net.)—A vast and indefinite subject of great difficulty is attacked in this little book. There is so much bad colour in the world that any alleviation of the misery caused...

Os. net.)—This is an "Anthology of Fairy Poetry," and a xemarkably delightful book. The "magic casement" is Keats's. We look through it with the eyes of the poet and see not a...

6d.)—Raymond Fairfax, finding himself stranded for want of a job in Sydney, takes up with a somewhat mysterious stranger who is captain of the Mote.' He has made, it so...

John Hassell. (Blackie and Son. 5s.)—" Mother Goose" is a Homer of a sort, with a whole cycle of rhymesters of the same kind, even as the old man of Chios was followed by...

5s.)—Mr. Farrow's comic animals, " Wallypugs " and the like, have come to be a recognised part of the literature of this time, and there is no need for us to recommend his...

and Son. 5s.)—No one can deny that Captain Brereton has set about his task conscientiously. The life of an estancia on the Indian frontier is faithfully mapped out for us, and...

following new editions :—By G. A. Henty, With Moore at Corunna (3s. Od.) and With Frederick the Great (3s. 6d.) ; by Dr. Gordon Stables, Courage, True Hearts ! (2s.) ; The...

France since Waterloo. By W. Grinton Berry, M.A. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Mr. Berry has evidently studied his subject with much care ; he writes with great vivacity, and sets off...

Series." (Wells Gardner, Darton, and Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—This book aims at being a guide for those who know little about pictures. We cannot help hoping that it may be kept out...

The Nun Ensign, Translated from the Spanish, with an Intro- duction and Notes, by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly ; and La Monjcs. Alferes : a Play in the Original Spanish, by Juan...

old Flemish towns. Not only the cities which are now in Belgium, but those of French Flanders as well, come under notice. Here we realise that not only in Bruges, Ghent, and...

The Attica of Pausanias. Edited by Mitchell Carroll, Ph.D. (Ginn and Co. 7s. 6d.)—The Attica occupies the first of the ten books of Pausanias's "Description of Greece." In...

(Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d. net.)—The utility of this little handbook would have been much greater if its arrangement had been more methodical, for then the stores of...

Fairbaims and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—This is a most useful little volume. Any one wishing to ascertain where examples of a given painter are to be found has only to look out the...

in Great Britain in the Victoria and Albert Museum. (Wyman's. 9d.)—Over four hundred pages are devoted to the catalogue of the very heterogeneous collection of water- colours...

The Story of the Pharaohs. By James Baikie. (A.. and C. Black. 7s. 6d. net.)—This is a very useful book of the popular kind. Mr. Baikie has not, we imagine, made a personal...

International Commentary : Book of Esther. By Lewis Bayles Paton, D.D. (T. and T. Clark. 10s. 6d.)—After reading Dr. Paton's introduction we feel that it is hard to defend the...

Bridge Notes. By Colonel C. S. Wheler. (Crowther and Goodman. Is. not.)—Colonel Wheler is admirably plain in his counsels. He begins with a rule which, stating the value of a...

series of "Beautiful Books" to which it belongs. Among the pictures we would mention the frontispiece, giving the Needles, Freshwater Bay, and Sandown Bay. The two Chines,...

The Scaffold " George " of Charles I. By Sir Ralph Payne- Gallwey, Bart. (Edward Arnold. 7s. 6d. net.)—Every one will remember that King Charles on the scaffold handed the "...

The Wonderful House that Jack Has. By C. N. Millard. (Macmillan and Co. 3s.)—This book is written for American schools, and, to a certain extent, has an application to the...

Text-Book of Botany. By Dr. Eduard Strasburger and others. Revised with the Eighth German Edition by W. H. Lang, M.B., D.Sc. (Macmillan and Co. 18s. net.)—The attention of...

High Holborn. W.C.; and Published by Joint BALM% for the " Srecreroa" (Limited) at their (Rice. No. I Wellington Street, in the Precinct of the Savoy, Strand, in the County of...

Prague, and a state of siege was proclaimed. The conditions of a state of siege are so strangely mediaeval that we must recount them as they are given by the Vienna...

of his reign. On Monday he received in anticipa- tion the congratulations of both Austrian Houses of Parlia- ment, and in reply said that, in 'spite of many difficulties, his...

where Czech crowds made anti-German demonstra- tions. At Prague the rioters attacked the German students and professors. Troops and police were called out in large numbers, and...

O NCE more we have to record the unpleasant fact that the negotiations for a Conference continue to be at a standstill, the obstructing force being Austria-Hungary. As a...

cluded between Japan and the United States. The Agree- ment, which is drawn up in the form of a declaration, expresses the mutual determination of the two Governments, "in the...

DEC 15 1 Utid FOR THE (4 7 111111011. AEE1;;ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1908. [ REOISTERED AB Pim% C. P NEWSAPER. BT Post...6n. POSTAGE ABROAD

case.

is contending may be gathered from the report of the speeches made, and action taken, at the meeting of the Representative Church Council on Thursday. We cannot go into the...

Reform of the House of Lords was published. Under the belief that the Report would not be issued for several days, we had already written on the forecast published in the...

Committee proceeded during the earlier part of the week without any very great amount of friction, though the extremer Nonconformists expressed no small hostility to the Bill....

the immense advantage of being automatic. Under it we should avoid perpetual wrangles over the exact amount of the grant in shillings and pence, and also the disputes which...

spondent who quotes the comments of Maria-Theresa on unrighteous acquisitions in 1772. It would be impossible to conceive any criticism more apt to the present behaviour of...

when we write, it is difficult to write without the risk of doing more harm than good. We should like, however, to draw the special attention of our readers to a letter con-...

Reichstag. On behalf of the Federated Governments an important statement was made by Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Imperial Minister of the Interior. The Federated Governments,...

W. Scoresby Routledge, a distinguished Oxford man interested in sport and scientific research, recently resident in the Kenya Province of British East Africa, on the...

other newspapers in the test election organised by the Proportional Representation Society were counted on Thursday night at Caxton Hall. The proceedings were a useful...

of Sir F. Came Reach was filled on Tuesday by the return of the Unionist candidate, Mr. Pretyman, the figures being as follows :—Mr. E. C. Pretyman (0.), 6,152; Mr. A. H....

Mr. Asquith, speaking in the Commons on Friday afternoon; gave notice of moving that the order for the Committee stage of the Education Bill be discharged. This means, of...

of all parties and creeds met under the chairmanship of Mr. Massie, 31.P., to found a Committee of men for opposing woman suffrage. The speakers included Lord Cromer, Mr....

assuming the accuracy of his account, which is based on the Judge's report and communications from the Colonial Secretary and the Governor's office at Nairobi, we entirely...

of applying Trade-Union funds towards procuring or supporting Parliamentary representation was given in the Court of Appeal on Saturday last. The plaintiff, Mr. Osborne, who was...

at Aldershot which abolishes the patrol formerly supplied by the different regiments in turn to keep order in the streets at night. General Smith-Dorrien explains that the...

May 28th. Consols (2i) were on Friday 88L—on Friday week 84.

T HE sixty years during which the Emperor Francis Joseph has reigned, and, in spite of many vicissi- tudes, consolidated Austria-Hungary and restored to her heterogeneous...

THE GOVERNMENT A_ND THE LORDS. T HE Government have forfeited the confidence of the country, and they know that they have forfeited it. No other conclusion can be drawn from...

A DECISION of far-reaching importance was pro- nounced by the Court of Appeal last week in a case which raised the whole question of the right of Trade-Unions to spend the money...

T HE Standard of Thursday, and indeed most of the papers, publish a forecast of the Report which the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Lords are about to present. The...

1 ABOUR Copartnership has suffered by being confused with profit-sharing. We do not mean that profit- sharing is not an excellent thing in itself. Anything that tends to bridge...

T HE three hundredth anniversary of Milton's birth (December 9th, 1608), and the accompanying cele- brations in his honour, naturally turn the mind towards some consideration of...

C ONDESCENSION is an innate quality. The kingdom of condescension is within. Circumstances may develop but can never create it Condescending children are not rare. Their voices...

W INTER firelight suits no pictures better than the gay, clean colours and the eager figures of Henry Al ken's sporting prints. The grey-coated huntsman, half seen over the brow...

THE GERMAN NAVAL ESTIMATES FOR 1909-10. uro TUX EDITOR OF TIIII - SeiscrATou....1 SIR,—The figures for proposed expenditure on the German Navy during the next financial year...

THE IRISH LAND BILL. ITO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Stn,—I notice that in your article on the Irish Land Bill in last week's Spectator you say that "Mr. Birrell, in...

[To Titil EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—In an interesting letter which appeared in the Spectator of November 7th Mr. Irwin drew attention to the mischief created in India...

[TO THR EDTIOR Of THE "5PRCTATOR.] SIR,—Your rebuke of those who would allow anti-Catholic feeling to operate in politics would be perfectly just, and would be heartily...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 Si,—In the last editorial paragraph of the first page of your issue for October 17th you give the impression that the sole cause for the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." J SIR,—Like most controversies, that on education subsists mainly on the failure of the combatants to understand each other's position....

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOIL"" Si,-My Society has bad its attention called to Mr. Samuel Cowan's letter on this subject, which appeared in your issue of November 21st. It...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."' SIR,—In a speech which Canon Lyttelton delivered at the opening of an elementary school at Slough last week, he made some comparisons...

[TO TIIR EDITOR OF TDB " sr KarArott.-] SIR,—In your issue of November 28th, "Lancastrian," in reply to my letter of the 21st, says : "We employers do not ask for an...

Watts's fine hymn, "Our God, our help," I agree with your correspondent of last week in lament- ing the mutilation of the original text, and in this case there is much to be...

ITO TH It EDITOR OF TIIR " SF ROTATOR.") • Six,—In your issue of November 21st you have an article on the importance of "hymns as an integral part of public worship." With...

[TO TER EDITOR OF THE " SPRCTATOR.".] SIR,—With regard to the interesting experiment illustrating the method of proportional representation initiated by Lord Avebury and his...

[TO THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—My attention has been drawn to a remark in your issue of November 14th, p. 779, to the effect that you believe the above-mentioned...

Sin,—In your paper of November 14th, in connexion with "Personal Service among London Poor," you recommend the study of Dr. Chalmers's book on "Parochial Aid." It may be...

ISO THE EDITOR OF THE °Seism/Tom:1 SIR,—It is an ill task to argue with an editor in his own pages, but may I say, nevertheless, that your reply to my letter on November 28th...

TI111 -sricoraros..-1 Sia,—There is, if I may be permitted to say so, an even more important feature in Sir Edward Grey's reply to the Belgian Government than the one to which...

[To THE EDITOR OW THE "SPZOTAT011.1 Sin,—May I take exception to the part of your reviewer's otherwise kind criticism in the Spectator of November 21st of my book for girls,...

(TO TI1N EDITOR OF THE "SPILIMILTOIL."J SIB,—In your notice (Spectator, November 21st) of Mr. Carnegie's "Problems of To-day" you call attention to his remark that "wealth...

LTO Till EDITOR OF THE *SPECTATOR." J SIR,—I understood the censure of which your correspondent complains, and for which, with characteristic humility, you apologise...

rro THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." J Sin,—Some years ago you chronicled the fact of a dealer dealing himself thirteen trumps. Some people may say that Englishmen have...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOft."1 Sin,—The instances of birds at play which you give in your review of "The Romance of Bird Life" (Spectator, Novem- ber 7th) remind me of a...

THE VILLAGE IN THE LAKE.* BENEATH the lake green as a wizard's beryl The village sleeps the centuries away, The bells are ringing somewhere in the sunshine For weddings and for...

THU "SeRCTATOR."1 Sin,—Some End friend has been in the habit of sending me the Spectator for a number of years past, but I do not know his or her name. The paper bears the...

[To TEM EDITOR Or TIM sarkron. - ] Siu,—May I be allowed to bring before the notice of your readers the claims of a Society founded some twenty years ago to secure to...

or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the mode of...

A WANDERING STUDENT IN THE FAR EAST.* THIS is the best book Lord Ronaldshay has written, and one .a the most genuinely informing works of travel which we 'Lave met for some...

would be shocked if he were told that be had achieved a literary feat. For nowhere does he try to be literary in the sense which has imposed on modern letters a distinction...

Quixotic impulse which suggested to Mr. Codley an apologia for eighteenth-century Oxford, but whether fie convinces us or not that the University of that maligned epoch was...

THE new Nineteenth Century is strong in articles of topical interest. That of Mr. J. L. Bashford on the Berlin crisis, however, cannot be said to be either convincing or...

THE bunting novice will probably derive a good deal of instruction and amusement from this book, although to the experienced foxhunter it will be a disappointment. Mr....

distinction of style are here concerned with an inexhaustible subject: the beauty and romance of France. To this day one meets people who believe that the interior of France is...

"THE RIGHT STUFF." • %BOMB time ago we saw it argued with great skill and evident sincerity by a modern novelist in the pages of a leading review that it was most unjust to...

6s.) —The "prince of dreamers" of Mrs. Steel's title is the great Akbar, Mogul Emperor of India, whose Court and time are depicted for us in this novel with considerable...

6s.)—Mr. Arnold Bennett takes as the subject of his new novel the separate histories of two sisters, who in the first chapters of the book are in their later teens, while the...

6d. net.)—Sir Ian Hamilton writes an introduction in -which he makes some noteworthy points. He strikes, so to speak, -11 blow for the war-song, and, whoever may "prate...

oloth ; as. 6d., leather.)—This little book is certainly a marvel of paper and print. It contains the thirty-seven plays, the poems, nn index of phrases, a glossary, a Life...

of their Date Indicating Blotting - Pads. We can testify from the experience of some years to their convenient arrange- ment and general utility. They are of various sizes and...

[Under tMe heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been -reserved for review in other forme.] If. By the Authors of "Wisdom While You Wait." (Sir Isaac T'itman and...

Yorkshire. Painted and Described by Gordon Home. (A. and C. Black. 20s. net.)—This volume is a republication of three volumes in which a selection of famous places and...

by A. C. Seward, F.R.S. (Cambridge University Press. 4s. net.)—In August, 1883, Krakatau and two neighbouring islands in the strait between Sumatra and Java were absolutely...

vols. (The .Clarendon Press. 2s. net per vol.)-111 books of a solid, trust- -Worthy kind about India are especially welcome at this time. Oswell, who is the Principal of...

Padre Agostino da llfontefeltro. Translated by Catherine Mary Phillimore. 2 vols. (Masters and Co. 4s. net.) — A Short History of Philosophy. By Archibald B. D. Alexander,...