DREAM POETRY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I offer these lines, not as conceiving that, as poetry, they are worthy of a place in the Spectator, but because I think...

LIBERTY OF DISCUSSION. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] . am entirely in accord with your reviewer's remark (in reference to my article in the current Nineteenth Century)...

OUR COLONIAL TROOPS: A SUGGESTION. [TO TRE EDITOR OF TUE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Much interest has been taken by scattered readers of yours, in the New South Wales inland districts...

VIRGIL AND THE SEA. [TO THE EDITOR OF TIE - SPECTATOR."l SIR,-AU who like the sea must be fond of the Srcfa.-: 1, none of the many good things you have said about it are...

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND MR. FITCHETT. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SiR,-Being old enough to have seen Apsley House lighted up, in honour of the Queen's coronation,...

THE QUERENS FRENCH DESCENT. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SiR,-I have read with great interest the article you gave on " An Uncrowned Queen " in the Spectator of May...

I A very unpleasant incident reported during the week has been the capture of a battalion of Imperial Yeomanry in the north-east of the Free State consisting of some four...

Accordiun to telegrams published on Friday a hundred aud twenty-nine of t6e British offihters who were prisoners at Pretoria have been reeased, but at the moment of our going...

I It is, of course, impossible to say how long the fighting will continue, but we do not think it will last any great time. There are three Boer forces still to be reckoned...

The news from China grows worse. The "Boxers," who are now reported as fairly well armed, have murdered and disembowelled two English missionaries not far from Pekin, have cut...

NEWS OF* THE WEEK. LORD ROBERTS'S troops were in possession of Pretoria on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the General made his formal entry into the Boer capital and rehoisted the...

I Fuller accounts of the action which took place just before the occupation of Johannesburg show that it was a very gallant affair, and that it was fought on the very ground of...

I It is with the deepest regret that we record the death of Miss Mary Kingsley, the African traveller, which took place at Simonstown on Tuesday, while she was engaged in the...

We have no very great belief in the wisdom or efficiency I of the War Office as at present constituted, but we cannot credit a statement made in the Daily Chronicle of Tuesday...

I The Thnes of Tuesday quotes a remarkable passage from Die Informatiou (Vienna) dismissing the prospect of a guerilla warfare in the Transvaal. Hardly less significant is the...

I The ' Belleisle,' which is now in dock at Portsmouth, being patched up to undergo further experiments, has been visited by a special correspondent of the Tiaes. From the...

On Monday Mr. Bryce addressed a meeting of the - . . . . . . . . . . . - - . Aberdeen Liberal Association, his subject being Lijeral Imperialism. After disclaiming the...

We have received from the Earl of Meath a copy of the I correspondence that has passed between the Lads' Drill Association and the War Office on the subject of Cadet Corps and...

I One wonders whether General Mercier, who procured the conviction of Captain Dreyf us, really believed that officer guilty or not. Even if he did he was guilty of conduct...

I The servants of the tramcar companies in St. Louis, Missouri, are on strike, and are using unheard-of means to coerce their employers. The cornpdaies insist on running their...

The most serious feature in the situation, however, is the I accumulating evidence that the Court and the soldiery favour the " Boxers." The Embassies are said to have evidence...

M. Waldeck-Rousseau, the French Premier. carried his I Amnesty Bill last Saturday in the Senate by 231 votes to 37. 1 His speech, the argument of which we have summarised and...

In the midst of the imbroglio, the question arises whether the Japanese would allow a strong Russian torce Irom rort Arthur to land and march to Pekin. The local belief is that...

The reports of the Indian famine continue to be heart- breaking. The number of persons on the relief works is now five million seven hundred thousand, and the deaths from...

I The. Vienna correspondent of the Times transmits some information of interest given to the Pestlher Lloyd by "a statesman in Rome." According to this authority the Vatican is...

A SERIOUS DEFECT IN THE NAVY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Will you kindly allow me to say one explanatory word in connection with the valuable letter from " More...

EDITOR. LETTERS TO THE OUR FUTURE WAR MINISTER. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] -SiR,-In your forecast of possible changes in the Cabinet should the Government be...

SEPARATE COLONIAL NAVIES. (TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sip.,-A few weeks ago your footnote to a letter on "Naval Defence" suggested tentatively the possibility in the...

ARMY REORGANISATION. W IHEN the war is over the great question of the NV' hour will without doubt be military reorganisation, for we do not believe that the people of this...

Sydney Smith's Wit and Wisdom. " The Bibelot Series." (Gay and Bird. 2s. 6d.)-We have nothing but praise for the latest addition to " The Bibelot Series." Sydney Smith shines...

GARDEN MAKING. The Art and Crkftfof Garden Making. By Thomas H. Mawson. I (B. T.. Batsfurd and George Newnes. 21s.)-It is with the greatest pleasure that we draw our readers'...

The Annual Register for the Year 1899. '. (Longmans and Co. 18s.)-There is no need to praise the Annual Regisfer. 1tt bas continued to improve, and may fairly claim to be as...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK. (MUder this heading we notice such Books of the uvee. as ham not bee rescied for reriew in other forms.] Social Life in the British Army. By a British...

WAR-BOOKs.-The Transvaal War Album. Edited by Com- mander C. N. Robinson, R.N. (G. Newnes. 12a.)-Of all the books of which the war has been the occasion, there has been none...

DRIFT. Drift. By Horatio F. Brown. (Grant Richards. 6s. net.)-| What strikes the reader most in Mr. Brown's verse is his feeling for and power of transmitting- the charm of...

THE FRENCH AMNESTY BILL. IT was, we think, a sound instinct which induced the I French Senate last Saturday to order that the speech delivered by M. AWaldeck-Rousseau in favour...

A HISTORY OF GREECE.* TaR first volume of Dr. Abbott's history was published in 1883, and another volume is wanting to complete the purpose; so that we have here a leisurely,...

NOVELS OF THE WEEK.* WE have read Mrs. Steel's new novel. '.dcoa n t0.e Xighdt with great iittcrest and admiration, yet cannot altog-Tetber bring oJl .; to prophesy smooth...

[TO THiE EDITOR OF THE " SPFCTATOR."] I TRu,-Cavendish's " Life of Wolsey" shows clearly the nature of the nightgown worn by men in the sixteenth century. Wolsey, after his...

SWITZERLAND, ENGLAND, AND LIBERTY. [TO THE EfDITIOR OFr THE ' SPECrATOn."I SIR,-The enclosed extract from a letter received from a citizen of Geneva will, I think, interest...

THE DREAM OF A DUTCH ASCENDENCY IN SOUTH AFRICA. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."I SiR,-I ask you of your courtesy to allow me a word of protest on the subject of the...

MRS. DELANY. (TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECATOR."] SiR,-In one of the "Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 16 42-54," occurs this passage:-" Going out to walk in...

RIFLE CLUBS. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SiR,-In her letter in the Spectator of June 2nd the right note has been struck by Lady Margaret Ormsby Gore in bringing to...

POETRY. .0 SATURDAY NIGHT SOLDIERS. [uanza:1i written il dejection near Paddlngton In November. 183P, by a Cockney Vill'ite' r; but see now Lord Roberts's despatch from...

A LADYS TRAVELS INTO SPAIN.* MR. HUNTINGTON could not have been better advised tiuM to reprint this rare and admirable translation of Mad~e dAulnoys travels into Spain. For in...

THE ATTRACTION OF QUAKERISM. a~I . ~ IT is not easy to understand why the Quakers do not increase, and that with considerable rapidity. That the children brought up in any...

BO OK S. CHARLES HENRY PEARSON.* WHEN tharemarkable work on National Life and Character was published, most of its readers failed to connect the author with the historical...

MUSIC. SIR GEORGE GROVE. DUE homage has already been paid in many quarters to the versatility and indefatigable industry of the bright spirit that was stilled last week in the...

MODERN GAMEKEEPERS. W HAT the number of young pheasants hatching under NV' artificial conditions in the present month may be we have no means of knowing. Judging by the lists...

THE MELANESIAN MISSION.* WHEN, some sixty years ago, George Augustus Selwyn went out to take charge of his diocese of New Zealand there were also committed to his...

THE SITUATION IN PEKIN. IT is extremely difficult to obtain accurate informnation from China. Chinese statesmen are the most secretive of mankind, the special correspondents...

TOPICS OF THE DAY. THE OCCUPATION OF PRETORIA AND THE FUTURE. PEOPLE sometimes talk as if the capture of the capital in a State like that of the Boers mattered little or...

CURRENT ILITERAT URE. THE MINOR MAGAZINES. The June number of Chambers's Journal is eminently varied and "1 up to date." Miss Mary Kingsley, whose death, we are grieved to...

THE LIMITATIONS OF MARCUS AURELIUS. IN a fine sonnet Matthew Arnold pays homage to Marein3 Aurelius as "the imperial sage, purest of men," who discovered that even in a palace...

A POLITICAL POULTICE. POULTICES, we know, are soothing, and, where there P is unhealthy matter to be brought to the surface, they are exceedingly useful. But except when...

THE SWISS MILITARY SYSTEM. I A Strong Army in a Free State. By G. G. Coulton. (Simpk in, ,Marshall, and Co. ls.)-Mr. Coulton's sub-title is " A Study of the Old English and...