TI ORD SALISBURY has been ill all the week with influenza. The attack has not been very severe, bat there has been much fever, and the peat is so fatal to the elderly that...

THE WAR OFFICE PROPOSALS. T HAT the Government's proposals in regard to the Army will go a long way to improve our military forces, we readily admit. They are a. distinct...

W E do not know that Unionists need distress them- selves about Lord Salisbury's illness, though it is the irritating specialty of the present visitation of in- fluenza that an...

about West Africa than there was last week. Otherwise we cannot see that the situation is improved. What is most ominous is the -dogged refusal of the French to meet us half-way...

I N the remarkable speech of Friday week in which the Under-Secretary for War introduced his Estimates, Mr. Brodrick made a statement quite en passant, and yet with a certain...

T HE alarmist rumours about a supposed impending collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are re- viving as a result of the news from Bohemia. A section of the English Press, not...

It PLOT to assassinate the King of Greece has been . actually carried out, which is not usual with such plots, and has failed, which is usual, in the execution. The...

"The Decline of Trac- tarianisui " in the Contemporary Review for this month has been fortunate in his title. He is so well aware of this that he heightens the interest by...

I T has been called the vulgarest of vulgar errors to attribute lightly this or that special characteristic to the several races of mankind. And so perhaps it is, for in its...

A RE acquaintances of much value in life ? Sir Mountstuaxt Grant Duff, in the exceedingly readable book of reminis- cences which he has just issued, replies in the affirmative,...

I F animals talk, as we are convinced that they do, to the extent of conveying wishes or facts by sounds, their speech ought to conform to the divisions of human speech. There...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I venture to send you the following instance of the' sociability of a young elephant. Three elephants trapped in the Gurwhal Forest were...

CONVOCATION AND THE LAITY. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR SIX —The significant fact that a Conservative Government las not given leave to the Convocation of the Southern...

LORD DITNDONALD. 4 IT may well be doubted whether it is worth while after more than eighty years to retry the case of Lord Cochrane ; there is no doubt that the case here...

FAME. FULL many songs he wrote—alack ! He gave his whole youth to his art— Yet not a single line came back From other lips to cheer his heart. "This is the last song from my...

{To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." 1 ' SIR, - I have read with appreciation and amusement your article in the Spectator of February 26th on the cat, but I note with surprise...

ISLAND life, if the island be not too big, is always interesting, whether that of men, animals, or plants. Islanders make the most of what Nature offers, because otherwise their...

preface that his volume is "not la political treatise, not even a study of our political epoch, but an account of the life of a man." In relating this " Story " the author has...

Nor very long ago, a well-known statesman of advanced age was quoted as possessing a remarkable memory,—he could recollect that he was the first to introduce the mixing of water...

upon Corea indicates the chief point of the interest which the rest of the world is now taking in that country. There is little in the past history of the Hermit Kingdom, or in...

THE March number of the Contemporary Review is an un- usually readable one. The first article, though intentionally one-sided, is a fine statement of the case against the...

as usual, satirises or censures various institutions which do not satisfy him. Social difficulties, as they present themselves in the midst of a highly complex civilisation, are...

The British Constitution. By Jesse Macy, M.A. (Macmillan and Co. 8s. 6d. net.)—Professor Macy has studied his subject in books and by personal observation, the latter extended...

are many anglers to whom the pike and the perch are more familiar than the trout or the salmon, and it is by them that this concise volume will be justly appreciated. It forms...

P. Putnam's Sons. 218. net.)—This is the third edition, and in the list of Venetian pictures has been enlarged. In a preface to it the author tells us that he considers that the...

(G. P. Putnam's Sons.)—It is not often that a work about the Renaissance painters has in it so many now and original views. The book is especially interesting in the part which...

and Co.)—These two little books, one dealing with Greece and the other with Rome, are intended, as the preface tells us, for schoolboys. The preface expresses a hope that a boy...

Sons.)—This readable little book is written in the language of panegyric rather than in that of unbiassed criticism; all the same, it is a welcome guide to the wonderful...

Albrecht Durer. By Lionel Cust. (Seeley and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)— This volume consists of two numbers of the "Portfolio Series" bound together. The first deals with the engravings,...

6d.)—The author, who is the editor of the Builder, calls this "a book for architects and the public." Certainly his wise criticisms of modern building and general principles...

(B. T. Batsford.) — This exceedingly interesting essay obtained the medal of the Royal Society of British Archi- tects in 1896, and is now reprinted with illustrations. The...

Pianoforte Primer. By G. W. Ivinez. (Enoch and Sons.)— This is one of the "Polytechnic" series, and is specially designed for teaching two or more pupils at once. Hence most of...

to Madame Marchesi's vocal method. Although called "vocalises," they are in reality charming songs, duets, and trios, with Italian words. They contain more melody and artistic...

Co. 8s.)—This well-written and clearly arranged book is intended for the use of those entering for the examine- tione of the Science and Art Department, as well as for archi-...

claire in the minor and ends moderato c con amore in the major, is a good song of its kind. Although this form has been largely used, the composer has found something to say.—A...

of business, should NOT be addressed to the EDITOR, but to the PUBLISHER, 1 Wellington Street, Strand, W.C.

/amok (A. St. J ). The Consecration of Hetty Fleet, or 13Yo ...(Skeffington) 36 Miele (F. G.), Sketch a Natural History (Vertebrates) of the British Islands, a 8yo (Blackwood)...

later than the first post on Friday.