The Unlucky Number. By Sybil Colbert. (F. V. White and Co.) I -The scene of this story is laid in Algeria, and it is connected with military life there, though its chief...

Between Man and Wife. By E. M. Davy. (F. V. White.)-This I is a tale which has been told we know not how many times before,of a woman's honour brought into doubt by...

- Undine. By William Hipaley. (Elliot Stock).-Mr. Hipaley I seeks to tell in ottava rinma verse the story which De La lotte Fooqu6 told in prose. The attempt would not be a...

I The Psychologist. By Patnam P. Bishop. (G. P. Ptnatm's Sons.) -This is a story of American life, and a curious, but not ill-contrived mixture of love, commerce, and the...

-Rienzi: a Play in Five Acts, by Frederick H. A. Seymour I (Kegan Paul, Trencb, and Co.), does not, indeed, come into competition with any prose masterpiece (unless we are to...

I Courtleroy. By Annie Beale. 3 TOls. (Eurst and Blackett.) -There is not much to be said about this story. Like all that Miss Beale writes, it is pleasant, wholesome, and...

An Autobiography of Theophilus WaIdmeier. (S. W. Partridge.)-I Mr. Waldmeier was engaged in nissionary work in Abyssinia when King Theodore quarrelled with this country. He...

I A Comtist Lover, and other Studies. By Elizabeth Rachel Chap- man. (T. Fisher Unwin.)-The principal paper in this volume is a dialogue between a pair of lovers, in whioh...

In the Leafy Month of June. By L. E. Tiddeman. (Swan Sonnen- I schein and Co.)-A love-story this, which labours under the difficulty of being told by the heroine, a difficulty...

I The French, or at least their journalists, appear to be in a mood of uncontrollable irritability. In the situation of their country in Europe, the friendship of England is of...

The Dublin correspondent of the Times declares that the fiendish persecution of the Curtin family in Kerry still continues. It is a year since Mr. Curtin was murdered and his...

I Telegrams continue to arrive from India stating that Abdar- rahmau Khan, the Afghan Ameer, is in difficulties. His nephew, Ayonb Khan, is stirring; the Ghilzaies, aided by...

The result of the election for the Mayoralty of Chicago has surprised every one. It was supposed that the Labour Party, who had been reinforced by the Anarchists, might carry...

Mr. John Morley delivered a spirited speech in the Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Road, on Wednesday, against the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, in which he went far beyond his...

After this, the debate languished till Mr. T. P. O'Connor, at I about half-past 12, moved the adjournment of the debate, which Mr. Gladstone urged the Government to accept,...

On Tuesday, Mr. Balfour moved the second reading without making any speech; Sir B. Samuelson moving, and Sir J. Pease seconding, an amendment to the effect that the House...

Mr. Balfour, in his reply, asserted that neither Mr. Parnell's| Bill as proposed in the autumn, nor the proposals of Lord Cowper's Commission which the Government had rejected,...

When Mr. W. H. Smith had moved " That the question be now put," a scene of great excitement ensued as Mr. Gladstone solemnly walked down the House towards the " No " lobby. The...

Admiral Maxse had the courage to attend the special meeting of the Council of the National Liberal Federation on Wednesday, called to condemn the Crimes Bill, and to move a...

Wednesday's debate produced only one speech of any note,. the speech of Mr. Bryce, who, though he was much more bitter than usual, and adopted towards the Government and the...

THE MAGAZINES. Tiiu best paper in the Contemporary Review, and in the magazines for this month, is Mr. R. L. Stevenson's on " The Day after To-Morrow." He believes that " the...

THE PSALMS IN HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.* I THERE lately died in Scotland a minister whose fame was in all its churches, and a Professor whose influence for good was very marked...

POETRY. EMILY BRONTE. A MOUtNTti- harebell with a heart of fire That, hidden in its heathclad fastness wild, Blossomed unseen and died. No breezes mild Of Southland summer, no...

INFANT MARRIAGES IN INDIA. [TO THE E.I.OR OF TIIE lrEPcTTO."1 -SiR,-In the Spectator of March 19th, you speak of the case of -the Hindoo lady, Rukhmibbai, the validity of whose...

THE FUTURE OF LIBERAL UNIONISM. [To TIE EDITOR OF To- "SPECTATOR.'] Sx,-I read with great interest your admirable article of April 2nd on "The Impossibility of Reunion." I am...

ART. THE WHITECHAPEL FINE-ART LOAN EXHIBITION. LAST Saturday there was opened at Whitechapel* the seventh of the Fine-Art Loan Exhibitions which the Rev. S. Barnett, Vicar of...

CURRENT LITERATURE. By far the most interesting article in the April number of the I Englieh Illustrated Alagazine is Miss Matilda Stoker's, on Sheridan and his first wife,...

I RhyeS and Renderings. By H. C. Irwin. (D. Stott.)-The most noticeable thing in these verses is the picture that they give of Indian scenery. There is a freshness and...

I POETRY.-Hiscella-eous Poems. By G. F. de Teissier, B.D. (Iloul. stan and Sons.)-Mr. de Teissier has, it would seem, collected in this volume the verses which he has written...

-Lyrics, and other Poems. By Richard Hill Sandys, M.A. (Kegan Paul, Trencb, and Co.)-Mr. Sandys's poems are mostly translations or adaptations, and though not more than...

TOPICS OF THE DAY. THE CLOSURE, AND THE RISING OF THE TIDE OF PASSION. WE are approaching times when it will need an unusual W amount of self-control to discuss the Irish...

At the banquet, on Saturday, which preceded the Conference, and was given by the Imperial Federation League, Lord Charles I Beresford made a rather remarkable speech. He...

I Ireland not only " blocks the way," but shuts out the view of every political object except Ireland. It monopolises every week, and every day, and very nearly every hour of...

The meetings of the Imperial Conference, composed of dele- I gates from all the self-governing Colonies, commenced on Monday, Lord Salisbury opening the proceedings at the...

NEWS OF THE WEEK. T HE Powers are obviously exerting considerable pressure to 1prevent Bulgaria from going her own way. The members of the Sobranje, the soldiers, and the body...

I After this violent exordium, MIr. Parnell moved his amendment on the proposal to introduce the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, namely, that the House should go into Committee on...

WORD-TWISTING versus NONSENSE. N OTHING is more characteristic of the humnourists of the 1 age in contrast with those of previous generations, than their employment of purely...

THIE BRITISH FAMILY COUNCIL. THE Government has acted wisely in summoning accredited representatives of the free Colonies to a Conference in London, bht not for the reasons...

BO OK S. I SOCIETY IN THE ELIZABETHAN AGE.* MR. MiLL has not turned his industry in research to the best purpose, nor made the best use of the undoubtedly valuable materials....

THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE LAW. LORD SELBORNE'S contribution to the second number of the Liberal Unionist deals with a question which presents no difficulty in theory, and a great...

A BOOK ABOUT DICKENS.* Or making books about Dickens there is no end. The mere enumeration of them covers twenty-five pages of the volume before us. And when an addition is...

THE GREAT MIDRASH.* THE Midrash, or collection of Midrashim, "homiletic discourses," known among Jews as the MIidrash Rabjba, is the chief literary product extant of...

EARLY FLEMISH ARTISTS.* IT has been said by a French thinker that the whole of the Flemish character maybe summed up in twowords,-"patience" and "conscientiousness." At first...

I FREEDOM AND THE JURY SYSTEM. WE have no fear of the agitation which it is intended to 'start against the Crimes Bill, if only the British people understand the issue. Furious...

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT OF CONSERVATISM. THOSE Liberal Unionists who are inclined to think that a Conservative cannot be liberalised, any more than a leopard can change his spots,...

IS OUR AGE DRAMATIC P D RAMATIC critics seem to agree that there is a great deficiency in the dramatic literature of the present day, though there is some difficulty in...

A MERCHANT OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.* TiiE book that lies before us, though a collection of family records, and brought out by a provincial press, has enough of interest to...

THE HOXTON MURDER. 11E had better begin at once by saying that, like the A presiding Judge, Mr. Justice Grantham, we entirely concur in the verdict of the jury against T. W....

THE TWO POLICIES. IF all the Bome-rulers would but be as candid as Sir Charles Russell, the country would have more chance of understanding the true issue that is presented to...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. MR. JOHN MORLEY ON THE IRISH QUESTION.I AN APOLOGY. [TO TIE E-DITOR O T.E " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-In a letter on the Irish problem which you printed on...