THE MAGAZINTES. WITH the exception of the Fortnightly Review, the leading magazines of this month are below their ordinary level. The articles which will attract most attention...

NESTING OF PARROQUETS IN A WILD STATE IN ENGLAND. FTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I think it may interest some of your readers to learn that a pair of Monte Videan...

[TO THE FDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SiR,-Will you admit the following American epitaph to your symposium? I met with it in Portland, Oregon:" Beneath this stone our baby lies,...

RARE EPITAPHS. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I think that no one has given you the celebrated epitaph in Harrow churchyard. I quote it from memory; but the quotation...

THE LATE BISHOP JACOBSON. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." 1 SIR,-The story told in your last number by a writer who uses the letter " V." to hide his name, is a fable from...

POETRY. -4- CHARITY. TIlE rich man gave his dole, not ill-content To find his heart still moved by human woe The poor man to his neighbour simply lent The scanty savings he...

FTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I copied the followving epitaph from a grave-stone in St. Philip's Churchyard:"To th e memory of James Baker, who died January 27th,...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SiR,-In Coles' MSS., a copy of an inscription from a stone in Banbury Churchyard is given:" To the Memory of Ric. Richards, who by a...

vows. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Anent this matter of Vows, I should like to ask Canon Carter a question. Vows, no doubt, will be taken in the future, as in the...

I Hu-nt-Room Stories and Yachting Yarns. By the Author of I",Across Qountry." (Chapman and Hall.)-These stories are reprinted from the Court Circular and the Country...

I The Pity of It. By Mrs. E. M. Smith. (Hurst and Blackett.)- The author of this story has done better things. In the present instance, she has encumbered herself with a plot...

Man PIroposes. By Mrs. A. Phillips. (W. H. Allen and Co.)-It is singular that the author of this novel, in which there is a great deal to admire and very little to find fault...

Information and Illu.strattion. By the Rev. G. S. Bowes, B.A. | (James Nisbet and Co.)-This is a parson's common-place book, and consists of " facts, figures, and anecdotes,"...

The Agent-General for Victoria has acted very wisely in bringing out in both Houses of Parliament-in the House of Lords on Friday week, and in the House of Commons on Tuesday...

General Butler has accepted the very empty nomination for I the Presidency which has been offered him by the Greenback I Party. That means, we suppose, that he hopes to detach...

The HonouraLle IV. H. Fitzwilliam is to retire from the I representation of the South-West Riding at the next Dissolution; and in a letter to his constituents has explained his...

Lord Redesdale put his old question to Lord Granville on Tuesday, as to the intentions of the Government, for next Session, in relation to Reform. In other words, he asked...

The cholera is declining at Marseilles and Toulon. though it has recently somewhat increased again in violence at the latter place, ten deaths having occurred there on...

1 The Postmaster-General made an important announcement on Thursday night with reference to the telephone. Complaints have lately been rife that the restrictions imposed by the...

-It is still qit te uncertain whether the struggle between I France and China will end in peace or war. From Foochow it was reported yesterday that "peace was certain." It is...

I There is a great deal of popular violence Iust nowe in Beloinm the Liberals feeling much humiliated by the defeat they have sustained at the hands of the Roman Catholic...

- Mr. J. F. McCarthy moved a resolution yesterday week in favour of an immediate improvement in the salaries of the Irish teachers in National Schools, involving, of course,...

A Amona the Clods; or, Phases of Farm Life, a., Seen by a Towr L - I bf jse. (Tinsley Brotbers.)-The " Town Mouse," as town mice are apt to do, suffered from dyspepsia, and...

I "Tew,,opae Bar, which has fallen-off in the quality of its serial fictions, has two articles of interest. They are " Some Points in the Year's Art," by Mr. Frederick Wedmore,...

I Good Wtords has some timely studies of Nature in her summer moods, and a very good paper on the "Prevention of Cruelty to Children." The illustrations are remarkably bad. A...

I Belgrai'ia is above the average. It gives us a very interest- ing article 'by Mr. Proctor on "Upright Man," which may be summed up for general purposes as strongly...

. The A),m , d Na . Maqazine. This is a good nimber. There are the usual " Service" growls, of course, and there is a scheme for , making the Army more effective at a cost of...

The Stmdav Ma,iazeine. A very interesting article on "Mount Carmel," by 'Mr. Laurence Oliphant, is the best thing in this magazine. We are sorry to find the fiction growing in...

; I The Eolil's4 Illustrated Magaztne. This too, is a good number . I _ _ _-., d_ " Cutlers and Cutlery at Sheffield " is an interesting ana instructive article, and a paper...

CURRENT LITERATURE. The Expositor, August. (Hodder and Stoughton.)-The first article in this number is, perhaps, the most interesting. Canon Farrar examines the bearing of...

I The Gealeman'xs 3fagaZiNe is dull. An article on " Alma-Mater on Sea" is a description of St. Andrews, and is inaccurate in its information on some points. The author is...

STUDIES IN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SiR,-It is quite true that my estimate of Foxe's veracity was formed at second-hand; I never said or...

MR. JESSE COLLINGS AND THE ENDOWED SCHOOLS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."1 SiR,-I have read with much interest the. article on the above which appeared in the Spectator of...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SiR,-The story of Tunbridge Middle School, which would seem from your remarks of July 28th to be imperfectly understood, may go to explain...

I The Appropriation Bill wvas brought in vesterdav. and the second reading will be taken to-day. The Committec stage will be reached on Monday, when Sir Stafford Nortlicote...

Lord Granville confirmed this statement on Mfondav in his I, place in the House of Lords, and added some account of the e earlier proposals of England and France, before the...

I The Reform Demonstration at Birmingham on Monday was a very impressive affair. The various trade societies and political clubs, marching in files six abreast, took...

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Gladstone announced the failure I of the Conference to the House of Commons. England, he said, had proposed to raise £8,000,000, which should be...

y I On Tuesday it was announced that Lord Northbrook is to zo, almost immediately to Egypt,-Sir Evelyn Baring shortening his stay here to accompany him,-to study the new...

NEWS OF THE WEEK. (3N Saturday last, the Conference on Egyptian finance -was adjourned sine die, Lord Granville firmly refusing to listen to the proposal to adjourn it to...

I Mr. Briglt's description of the House of Peers was conceived in the tone of ironic moderation which best suitz his genius. He reminded the people how we always speak of the...

Major Kitchener telegraphs that Geberal Gordon's letter I ao Kic e teerah tha Genra Godnslte states that Khartoum and Senuaar are still holding out; that General Gordon has...

'Mr. Chamberlain's speech 'was also one of great eloquence. I He did not think much, he said, of an affection for the franchise which had developed itself only after the death...

Lord Granville touched on the difficulties of dealing ade- quately with the slavery of Mahoinmedan countries and put it | thus:-" They say, 'It is true that Mahomed promised...

I On Tuesday Mr. Gladstone asked for a vote of credit, 'which he fixed at £300,000, though be admitted that that was a mere abstract figure, fixed only because a blank cheque...

Mr. BrigAht also insisted that nearly half the House of Peers was the creation of one of the darkest periods of our historv,-between the accession of George III. in 176Q and...

The iubilee of the emancipation of the slaves was celebrated I yesterday week in a meeting held at the Guildhall, which was presided over by the Prince of Wales. The Prince...

The National Assembly met at Versailles on Monday to revise the French Constitution, and the scene on the first day was very tumultuous and violent. MK. le Royer was President....

I THE FCIRTNIGHITLY " ON LORD SALISBURY. IIE current number of the FIrmiil;ttIl1 Revew opens T with a brilliant article on Lord Salisbur. Judgin(T from internal evidence, we...

CO-OPERATION ON ITS TRIAL. EW, probably, of those who read these lines will rememF ber the mixture of contemptuous surprise, amusement, and anger, with which the Christian...

A SONG FROMI THE NORSE. .. Iggested by a translation from the Norse in Du Chaillu's "Land of tIe Midnight Sun."] ON my heaven he flashed from far, Like a magic meteor star, And...

BO OK S. MR. FITZGERALD'S LIFE ACD TIMES OF WILLIAM lV. IT would be idle to criticise a book like this with any strictness. Mr. Fitzgerald is a chartered libertine, and is...

A YEAR OF THE PARCEL POST. THE Parcel Post has undoubtedly disappointed many expectations. It has not at present been sufficiently used by the public to brine about on its own...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I agree with your correspondent " M." in thinking that a one-year veto would, in practice, be a greater evil than the one now existing....

THE EFFECT OF HOUSEHOLD FRANCHISE ON THE CONSERVATIVES. [TO TmE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-In the SpectatQr of July 20tlh, you say,-" So far as the assimilation of the...

THE LORDS IN 1835. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] 'SIR,-I live apart from cities and from clubs, and am exercised at times in reading such speeches and such newspaper...

LETTERS TO TIlE EDITOR. RI:EFORMN OF THE LORDS. FTo THE ErDITOR OF THE "S PErCTATOR."] SiR,-Your able correspondent "M.U' has shown conclusively that the result of a...

A DRAWN GA[E.* WHEN we laid down this novel, we wondered what the sensation was that we felt; and, after careful analysis, we found it was that produced by a visit to a country...

TOPICS OF THE DAY. THE BDREAK-UP OF THE CONFERENCE. ATE were not amongst those who regarded the AngloAV French Agreement, which was to be conditional on the success of the...

.MR. BRIGHT AND THE PEERS. R TR. BRIGHT is quite warranted in saying that there is, AM deep in his nature, a very genuine Conservatism which has more than once succeeded in...

TIlE TEST OF OUR LOVE FOR THE COLONIES. IT is difficult to believe that that cordial feeling towards the Colonies, which on parade days is so emphaticallv-we might almost say...

JELL.* Jill is a very lively and spirited story, written with a good deal of the realism of such authors as Defoe, and describing the experience of a young lady, who, to escape...

Mfemnoir of Captain Prescot William Stephens, R.N. By B. A. eIeywood, M.A. (James Nisbet and Co.)-The subject of this I memoir was a "worthy" indeed. A good officer, a good...

LUNACY LAWS.* THE attention of the public has been so forcibly drawn to the subject of our Lunacy Laws by Mrs. Weldon, that this work, which consists in a compilation of the...

ESSAYS BY W. R. GREG.* FouR out of the five essays republished in this volume belong to the years 1851-2; the fifth is much more recent, having been written as lately as 1878....

A MISCONCEPTION -OF HISTORY. IS there any truth in the very general belief that during the period which has elapsed since the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, now...