fited by intimacy with Mr. Hall. He himself had been the associate of the best men and women of the age, and to be his friend seemed to be a partaker of his experience. Besides, one always found at his house people worth knowing and being known to. Mrs. Hall's receptions were a continuation of Lady Blessington's. The guests were not ashamed to bring as well as to fetch. I met there the late Jenny Lind and the present Lady Martin. I have heard Robert Burns's sons sing their father's songs, and Samuel Lover sing his own. Although people of rank were not absent, artists of the brush and chisel, authors and journalists, especially those beginning their career, formed the bulk of the assembly. For years I myself was a welcome guest, and believe I was admitted to Mr. Hall's closest intimacy. Why do I say that? For the purpose of saying this. Never before or since have I met a man with a finer nature or a more benevolent disposition. During the whole course of my acquaintance with him he did not hint, by tongue or pen, disparagement or depreciation of any. To my knowledge he befriended many as he befriended me. How, then, comes it that my cockney chapman at Tenby declared ""All" to be "an 'umbug"; that Dickens only saw in my friend a Pecksniff; that Jerrold persistently sneered at him? Except for the reason that a man is not a hero to his valet I cannot surmise. Probably Hall's manner, which was suave to excess, sometimes almost verging on pomposity, was an offence to ruder natures. In any case his character and disposition were altogether different from what they were at one time supposed to be by those who knew him not. I need not here enumerate the hundreds of books on which his name appears singly or in conjunction with his wife's. He was as pertinacious and indefatigable in work as the elder Dumas, and he was even more successful in deftly welding into the book on which he was engaged archæological or other such information with which he was only slightly acquainted. As to the share Mrs. Hall had in his work, I can say from knowledge that the husband was the guide and counsellor even in the wife's charming tales and novels. In a word, the late S. C. Hall -the final link that bound us to a former age was as sincere and earnest and benevolent a man as our time has seen. THOMAS PURNELL. P.S.-This is the last note I received from him: "Christmas Day, 1888. "Though pretty well, thank God, I can do no more than convey to you my grateful acknowledgment for your thought of me, and I pray God to bless you with health, happiness, and prosperity. "Your faithful friend, S. C. HALL." THE LIBRARY AT BOLD HALL, LANCASHIRE. A CORRESPONDENT writes : "While we are reading of the high prices given in the sale-rooms for books of a rare kind found in libraries like those of Lord Hopetoun, the Duke of Buccleuch, Mr. Mackenzie, and others, it may be well to glance at the other side of the picture and behold to what base uses books do come at last. A noble mansion, built in the reign of James I.-the very year, it is said, in which Shakspeare died-was handed down from father to son for nearly two centuries, when it passed to collaterals in the female line, and in 1860 was thrown into the market by the last of the Bold-Hoghton family. It stands about three miles from St. Helens Junction, a three-story building of fine proportions, adorned with columns, &c., covers nineteen acres. It was eventually sold for 120,000l. to Mr. William Whitacre Tipping, a wealthy cotton-spinner of Wigan, who was retiring from business with the intention of devoting himself to agriculture. This gentleman, who died at Bold Hall on Sunday, the 10th inst., was a bachelor, with the pleasure-grounds, kennels, and seems not to have cared much for intellectual pursuits. The books of the library were not included in the bargain for the purchase of the estate. The vendor, therefore, invited an expert from London to value and buy the library. The choicest of the books were thus carried away, but a thousand volumes or more remained, and were offered to Mr. Tipping at his own price. 'I know nothing about books,' he said, 'but I know somethingabout muck [the Lancashire term for manure), and I will give muck price for them.' All right,' said the interlocutor. The books were piled on a cart, weighed on a weighing-machine, and sold for 88. or 10s, a ton. Among this remnant of the old library are to be found a fine original Hogarth's 'Works, Tanner's Notitia Monastica,' the Museum Florentinum,' 10 vols. folio, Denon's 'Egypt,' Œuvres de Molière,' 6 vols. 4to., full of eighteenth century plates and handsomely bound. Mr. Tipping bought them simply as furniture to fill up the cases that stood empty. The only part of the mansion he took any pains to preserve was the hall. Here hang two Van Dycks, full-lengths, of Charles I. and his queen, a royal gift to one of the Bold family, two Claudes, and a Holy Family by Rubens. The dining-room, with its granite columns and gilt cornices, is simply in ruins, the windows unglazed, and the floor rotting. The room that seemed pleasing to the owner (this was in November last) was the cock-fighting room that had proved so both the societies. He makes no choice: he loves fine books whatever the label of their publishers. He will join, no doubt, a third society of bibliophiles which is going to be started, or rather has been started, of which M. Uzanne has undertaken the arrangement. This is the "Société des Bibliophiles Modernes." Freer in its tendencies than the society of Amis des Livres, it will be to the Amis des Livres what they are to the classical association founded by Baron Pichon. In politics one is always the Jacobin of somebody else. In bibliophily one is always the revolutionary of some other booklover. M. Octave Uzanne, the editor of Le Livre, was better qualified than any one else for giving a new direction to this worship of books, which will count henceforward several sects and several chapels. The tokens of respect shown to the Duc d'Aumale will not stop here. There is a place vacant in the Institute, owing to the death of a man more distinguished than celebrated and superior to his reputation, M. Rosseuw SaintHilaire, the author of an excellent history of Spain. This place the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences wishes to bestow on the historian of the Condés, and the election will take place very shortly. The Duc d'Aumale already belongs to the Académie des BeauxArts as a membre libre. disastrous to the last of the Bold-Hoghtons. On the low platform where the 'mains' were fought stands an iron cradle, moving on a rail, and containing several wooden bowls into which the stakes were thrown. 'Many thousands,' said the old man, 'have been won and lost in this room. Bold-Hoghton had five hundred fighting cocks, and paid his "setter" 600l. a year to look after them. They did enjoy 'emselves at any rate, and they could drink tool' Sir Pitt Crawley himself could hardly have used Queen's Crawley more unkindly than did Mr. Tipping the ancient hall of the Bolds and the Hoghtons. He had the front hall door nailed up, and entrance into his apartments (four rooms meanly furnished in one corner of the house) could only be obtained by descending into the basement and remounting the dismantled, kitchen backstair. windowless, All and the doorless. offices, stables, Mr. Tip- &c., Beaux-Arts. ping was an excellent man of business, and sold his agricultural produce in the best markets. His for tune of nearly half a million will possibly be a subject of litigation, as the wills he has made from time to time have become void, it is said, by the death of the intended legatees." NOTES FROM PARIS. THE literary world celebrated last week the return of the Duc d'Aumale. It may certainly be said that exile has done no harm to the historian of the Princes of the House of Condé. The Academicians waited for him, from the moment of his first appearance, in the hall where their meetings are held; but the general public also displayed its sympathy, and groups were hanging about the Institute to see him arrive. You know the whole story with which the daily papers have regaled their readers, and which is now a fortnight old-a long time for these days. But what I wish to dwell on is that the prince who re-entered his native country the other day re-entered more especially as a man of letters and an artist, and that his restoration is a victory of ideas and a triumph for the Institute of France. There was almost nothing political about the matter. The duke is not a Pretender; he is an enlightened man, fond of fine editions, a collector of valuable pictures, and, what is of most importance at the present time, the donor of a splendid palace to his brethren of the Institute that is to say, to France. It is obviously this gift of Chantilly to his country which has put an end to the exile of the Duc d'Aumale. But it is literature that has prosecuted the campaign and obtained the victory. "Neither have conditions been stipulated," said the first magistrate of the Republic, "nor has pressure been exercised"; there has been no other pressure than the efforts of the brethren of an Academician. Every society to which the Duc d'Aumale belongs has made a point of welcoming him back. The first day he accepted the invitation of the Amis des Livres, and the morrow that of the Bibliophiles Français. They may be taken by a foreigner for the same society; but that is not at all the case. There are bibliophiles and bibliophiles. The Société des Bibliophiles, founded by Baron Pichon, represents in bibliophily the classic and purely conservative spirit. The Amis des Livres, presided over by M. Eugène Paillet, are, so to say, in the movement, and more modern. The Duc d'Aumale is honorary president of There is just at this moment an election on the point of occurring at the Académie des M. Cabanel is dead, and M. Henner, M. Jules Lefebvre, M. É. Detaille, M. J. P. Laurens, and M. É. Lévy are offering themselves as candidates for the vacancy. The election will take place on the day the Athenœum publishes these lines. M. Henner has on his side the Independents of the Academy, those who are enthusiastic for his Correggian colour. M. Detaille is supported by M. Meissonier, who has a profound affection for the young military painter. M. Jules Lefebvre, a very academic artist and an irreproachable draughtsman, has on his side M. Gérôme, whose influence is great and his friendship most active. But you know that at the Académie des Beaux-Arts it is not the painters only who choose the painters; it is the whole Academy, composed of engravers, sculptors, musicians, and architects as well. M. Gounod has a vote at the election of a painter just as the veteran M. Robert Fleury at the election of a musician. It is hard, therefore, to say what will be the result. The serious question of the prosecution of the 'Ligue des Patriotes' does not seem at first sight to concern literature, and it is of literature only that I speak in these "Notes from Paris." And yet one may say without exaggeration that if M. Paul Déroulède, the founder of the League, had obtained at the theatre the success which his patriotic poems secured him, it is likely that that most chivalrous person would not be regarded to-day as the chief of a dangerous faction. People have forgotten the literary beginnings of M. Paul Déroulède ; and yet it is interesting to know them. M. Émile Augier-who is, I am sorry to say, not quite well at the present moment-had two nephews; both of them were ambitious of succeeding, if fate permitted, to the heritage of their uncle. The one was M. Émile Guyard, who died scarcely a month ago and who has left in the répertoire of the Théâtre Français a pleasant and delicate piece, Volte-Face'; the other was M. Paul Déroulede. While young Guyard had a leaning towards the gay, bantering type of comedy, 7. of of which the author of 'Gabrielle' and the 'Gendre de M. Poirier' was the exponent, M. Paul Déroulède, on the other hand, from the first affected what was violent and sombre. At twenty he had finished a drama in five acts of very black hue indeed. It was the story of a son condemning the guilt of his mother, and there were two or three corpses on the stage at the fall of the curtain. M. Augier found 'Juan Strenner' (so the play was styled) a great deal too lengthy; he advised his nephew to reduce his five acts to one, and carried the abridged version to the Comédie Française, which accepted it and played it. The piece had some amount of success. It was considered cruel; still allowances are always made for young men. At twenty M. Déroulède had no other aim or ambition than to be a playwright. However, the war broke out. He became a soldier, fought bravely, and after the struggle he sang of the hardships and the devotion of his comrades, hence the 'Chants du Soldat.' But the success of a volume of verse, however great it may be, does not afford the happy fever of a theatrical triumph. M. Déroulède wrote a new play, the 'Hetman,' a patriotic piece, in which he brought Cossacks on the stage and incarnated the country in a camp, that of the heroic ancestors of the adventurer Atchinoff. The play was applauded for its allusions. The author still wore at this period the uniform of the chasseurs à pied; so it was a case of a soldier chanting the praises of his native land, and Paul Déroulède was acclaimed as a sort of French Koerner, who happily had not got killed. I am quite aware that some fastidious persons among the poets enamoured of pure form found fault with M. Déroulède's verses for being sin gularly slipshod, and M. Théodore de Banville, who never accepts verses that are not quite perfect, said of the 'Hetman, "Pièce patriotique! Patriotique soit ! Mais la langue française est aussi une patrie." masses. M. Déroulède had no intention of remaining satisfied with a succès d'estime, and after the 'Hetman' wrote the 'Moabite,' a Biblical piece in which a father kills his son for avowing himself an atheist. This tragedy was never played, and it was because it was not, that the poet Déroulède became a somebody in the eyes of the He took his piece to the committee of the Comédie Française, which accepted it; but when it came to be a question of producing it, M. Émile Perrin was afraid of the possible consequences. He dreaded the wrath of the freethinkers, who would, he fancied, hasten to protest against religious tragedy; and he hinted to M. Jules Ferry, then Minister of Public Instruction, that the 'Moabite' might be taken for an answer to the famous Article 7. In short, whether he was swayed by political motives or convinced by the reasoning of the director of the theatre, M. Ferry prohibited the 'Moabite.' Hence the anger and attacks of the poet against M. Jules Ferry. The funniest part of the matter is that the Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Public Instruction at the time was M. Edmond Turquet, deputy for the Aisne, and that M. Déroulède related at length in the preface to the 'Moabite' that M. Turquet, after having read the piece, asked the author, "Is your 'Moabite' in prose or verse?" "In verse, Mr. Under-Secretary, in verse." Nowadays the irony of fate has made M. Déroulède the ally of M. Turquet, and the author of the 'Moabite' and the Under-Secretary who forbade its production are marching together in the attack on Parliamentarism. It is obvious that had M. Déroulède obtained at the Français the success to which he aspired, and to which he had a right, militant and turbulent politics would have had one chief less. Between being a popular dramatist or a popular agitator M. Déroulède has made his choice, or rather he has not had his choice. The wrath of the aggrieved author has dictated his conduct. I regret his unpublished plays and the theatrical pieces he will not now write. I hope I have interested you by this little story, which might be entitled, "How a Dramaturge Lives by Dramas when he has Ceased to Write Them." EGO. THE SPRING PUBLISHING SEASON. MESSRS. BELL's spring announcements include 'The Early Diary of Frances Burney,' edited by Mrs. Annie Raine Ellis, - the late Mr. Stevenson's 'Dictionary of Roman Coins,' completed by Mr. F. W. Madden, M.R.A.S., -the twelfth and Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co., who have just Messrs. Whittaker & Co. will shortly publish the following: 'Morocco: Journeys to the Kingdom of Fez and to the Court of Muley Hassan,' by M. H. M. P. de la Martinière (a member of the French Legation), with itineraries constructed by the author, - ' Railway Construction and Management,' being a description of the practical working of an English railway, by Mr. G. Findlay, general manager of the and two new volumes in the LN.W.R. of Electricity,' by Mr. T. H. Blakesley, and M. SCHERER. M. EDMOND SCHERER, who died last Saturday at Versailles, at the age of seventy-four, after an illness which had long troubled him, but which had only a few days before assumed a dangerous aspect, was one of the chief representatives lately surviving of the great and interesting school of literary politicians who have played so considerable a part in the French history of the nineteenth century. He differed 1 from the most brilliant of his class-RoyerCollard, Cousin, Villemain, Guizot, Thiers-in the point that he never had official experience or power, and that he only took very late to parliamentary life. But he was elected to the Assembly in 1871, and four years afterwards he became a life Senator. His politics were decidedly interesting, but concern us less here than his literary work. From this latter point of view he united lines or modes which are not very often united in England: he was a theologian, a journalist in politics and other things, and a literary critic. As a theologian he belonged to the rationalist school of French-German Protestantism, and after being Professor of Exegesis at Geneva resigned his post because of changes in his views as to inspiration, which he stated in a pamphlet (1850) entitled 'La Critique et la Foi.' As a journalist he was for many years a contributor to, and almost identified with, the Temps, especially for the subjects of foreign politics and literary criticism. He left this journal about ten years ago, but before very long returned to it, and contributed to its columns almost up to the date of his death. He wrote, besides political articles, two or three political pamphlets of considerable literary merit, but inspired by that peculiar kind of academic liberalism-a liberalism acquiescing in the principles of democracy, but disliking the results of those principles-which is frequently, and perhaps not unjustly, accused of being sterile and even self-contradictory. And he was for a time a contributor of letters on French subjects to the Daily News. But his chief position was that of literary critic. His rank in this capacity has been rather variously estimated, but has never been put low by any competent member of his own craft. It may have been, for the English public, a little exaggerated by Mr. Matthew Arnold, who found in M. Scherer's handlings of Milton and others texts on which to enlarge for the purpose of bringing in his own favourite views as to English faults, and who recognized the French Senator as a kindred soul in the union of theological rationalism with literary interests. On the other hand, it was a little depreciated by some French censors, who talked about his fiel protestant, upbraided him with his want of sympathy for whatsoever was Bohemian, extravagant, or eccentric, and affected to regard him as a mere Dryasdust. Yet it will, perhaps, hardly be denied that he was a better critic when he thoroughly sympathized with his subjeet (even if he did not wholly approve of it) than when the subject was antipathetic to him. His six or eight volumes of collected studies, together with some other works (of which the chief was a very interesting volume on Melchior Grimm, which was reviewed in the Athenæum two or three years ago), display an accomplished style; considerable knowledge of literature, especially of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and in a less degree of the seventeenth; and a certain sober, straightforward judgment, which was perhaps of particular value value in a day when more, not less, than its due is usually given to eccentricity of any kind. The descriptions of him as "nearest to Sainte-Beuve" which have been published are not very happy; for the great characteristic of Sainte-Beuve as a critic-his general, if not invariable power of self-adjustment to the moral and intellectual atmosphere of the subject was exactly what M. Scherer lacked. But he was the most considerable French critic left in France who was a critic mainly or wholly, and his work, on some subjects at any rate, will never grow entirely obsolete to students in literary history. SALE. THE sale of Mr. Mackenzie's library came to a close on Tuesday, and realized a total of 7,0721. From the first to the last there was the keenest competition for any book of interest, and in many cases the prices were without precedent. Perhaps the two dearest lots were Dialogue in the Shades between the celebrated Mrs. Cibber and the no less celebrated Mrs. Woffington, both of Amorous Memory,' a small and thin quarto, printed in 1766, and Thackeray's Snob, "a literary and scientific journal, not conducted by members of the University" (eleven numbers), with the second volume (seventeen numbers), which was called the Gownsman, 2 vols., printed in Cambridge, 1829-30. One bookseller gave 621. 10s. for the 'Dialogue,' and another purchased the Snob at 1251.! Many other prices were excessively high, but we have only room to quote the following:-Bannister, Memoirs by Adolphus, 4 vols., 1839, with extra illustrations, 30l. 10s. Bartolozzi and his Works, 2 vols. enlarged to 5 vols., illustrated with a large number of extra portraits, autographs, and drawings, 215l. Kitty Clive, autograph letter, signed "An Old Maid," to D. Garrick, 28l. 10s. Ainsworth, Tower of London, 1840, presentation copy to W. Beckford, 211. 10s. (this copy realized 7l. in the Beckford Sale in 1882). Comic Almanack, 1835-53, 30l. Egan, Life in London, and Finish to the Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic, first edition, 1821-30, 341. Cruikshank's Illustrations to 'Sketches by Boz,' proofs on India paper, 30l. The Humourist, 4 vols., 1819-20-22, 211. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, both series, 1836-7, 30l.; Pickwick Papers, first edition, with the suppressed plates, original wrappers, and advertisements, 2 vols., 1837, 22l.; American Notes, 2 vols., first edition, 1842, with autograph inscription, 20l. 10s. ; Dombey and Son, 1848, 15l.; David 848, 15l.; David Copperfield, 1850, 14l. Mr. Thackeray, Mr. Yates, and the Garrick Club: the Correspondence and Facts stated by E. Yates, 1859, 40l. Account of the Origin of the 'Pickwick Papers,' by Mrs. Seymour, her own copy, with MS. notes, 72l. Garrick, Life, 4 vols., illustrated with extra portraits, 30l. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, first edition, Gould, Birds of Great Britain, 1766, 671. 5 vols., 1873, 65l. Gray, Elegy, first edition, 1751, 551. Mrs. Jordan, Autograph Letter, 171. J. S. Knowles, Works and Life, vols., 18731875, 311. Lamb, Prince Dorus, plates coloured, 1818, 45l. Lever, a complete set of works, 59 vols., all first editions with one exception, 275l. Rowlandson, Dance of Death and Dance of Life, 4 vols., 1816-7, 30l. 10s. Shakspeare, Rape of Lucrece, 1632, 26l. 10s. Silvestre, Paléographie Universelle, 4 vols., 1841, 38l. Strutt, Works, 14 vols., 1773-1810, 721. Tennyson, Poems by Two Brothers (Alfred and Charles), 1827, 24l.; Idylls of the Hearth (afterwards called 'Enoch Arden'), 25l. 10s.; The Window, 1867, 361. Thackeray, Comic Tales and and Sketches. Sketches, 1841, 20l.; Second Funeral of Napoleon, 1841, 37l. A quarto volume containing theatrical autographs and portraits, 2851. Walton and Cotton's Angler, by Sir H. Nicolas, 1836, 27l. Westmacott, English Spy, 2 vols., 1825-6, 30l. 10s. The collection of engraved know nothing about his life before he settled was born in Austria and educated in the Jewish a hands to-day, Mr. Evans succeeding Mr. Thomas Gibson Bowles in the proprietorship. MESSRS. MACMILLAN & Co. have in preparation a 'Short Manual of Philology for Classical Students,' by Mr. P. Giles, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. This book, which will be in the same form as Dr. Gow's 'Companion to School Classics,' is intended to serve as an introduction to the 'GOLDSMITH'S POEMS AND PLAYS,' the next volumes of Messrs. Dent's" Temple Library," will, in addition to a critical introduction by the editor, Mr. Austin Dobson, contain a number of brief bibliographical and illustrative notes, several of which are not to be found in any earlier edition. Some of Goldsmith's own opinions on poetry are printed as an appendix to the poems, while For the same reason I can say little about his essay on 'Laughing and Sentimental his early writings, which consist mostly of Comedy' naturally follows the plays. The translations from German and Jewish stories frontispiece to the first volume is Canonbury for educational purposes. Even of his 'Bible Tower, where he once lived and wrote; History,' in seven volumes, which had and the edition is dedicated to a well-known great success, I know little; but I have seen him Goldsmith lover, Mr. Edward Ford, of Enhard at work on the last volume, when the task field. of comparing the Biblical dates with the Assyrian canon made his nights sleepless. His great work on the life of Christ I have read, and, whatever mistakes he may have made in a few Talmudical passages-so do we all except those who believe themselves infallible-he was very painstaking in order to be as accurate as possible, and his book is a great book from an orthodox point of view, and I do not wonder that it reached a third edition, which seven years' hard work deserved. I cannot enumerate here his many minor works, such as lectures and contributions to periodical literature and encyclopædias. In the 'Speaker's Commentary' he wrote on Ecclesiasticus, on which he spent great labour. Alas! his lectures on the Septuagint he will not see published; and how far his life of St. Paul has advanced we shall know only later. Although I strongly disagreed with my deceased friend in matters of religion as well as in those of Biblical criticism, for he belonged to the most conservative school, there was no cloud between us. How could it be otherwise with his natural amiability and kindness, and with his ready forgiveness of offences against him? He died quietly and peacefully, in accordance with his life, at the age of sixty-four, which is not more than maturity for learned men. In the university which adopted him he was esteemed by everybody without exception, and he will be deeply missed by many friends. His charming tall figure will not meet us any more in the library at lectures and other gatherings, but his memory will last in Oxford and elsewhere, wherever he was known. His children may be proud of his name. Rest in peace, my friend, and may thy soul be bound in the bundle of with the Lord thy God! A. NEUBAUER, Literary Gossip. life THE commission for considering the feasi portraits of actors and actresses at the end of bility of establishing a Teaching University the sale realized 276l. 168. DR. ALFRED EDERSHEIM. Oxford, March 20, 1889. It is always painful for a friend to write an obituary. And in the present case it is still more painful when I think that I left Dr. Edersheim before Christmas, when I paid him a visit at Mentone on my return from Italy, most cheerful and very hopeful of his complete recovery. Only last Thursday I received a postcard from him, perhaps the last he wrote, worded in a joyful tone, and announcing to me that he had finished the three Grinfield Lectures which he would have to deliver in the summer term. Alas! on Monday news reached me that he died suddenly on Saturday, the 16th inst. Although an intimate friend of the deceased for the last six years (I made his acquaintance in 1881, when he came to Oxford to preach the sermon on Jewish prophecy), I in London has, we believe, agreed upon the MESSRS. GALIGNANI have finished their arrangements for a collective exhibit" by English publishers at the Paris Exhibition. The following firms have secured spaces: Messrs. Bagster, Messrs. G. Bell & Sons, Mr. Bumpus, Messrs. Chambers, the Clarendon Press, Messrs. Eyre & Spottiswoode, Mr. Wells Gardner, Messrs. Griffith & Farran, Messrs. Hatchard, Messrs. Sampson Low & Co., Mr. Walter Scott, Mr. Fisher Unwin, Messrs. Ward & Downey, and Messrs. Ward & Lock. THE society paper Vanity Fair changes methods and conclusions of recent philology. While giving their fair share of treatment to questions of sound and inflection in a form suitable to beginners, this manual will differ from others of its class in devoting a larger share of attention to general principles, and in including along with the inflection a short account of the comparative syntax of the noun and verb. THE April number of the Asiatic Quararticl terly Review will contain the following articles among others: 'Mahomed's Place in the Church, by Mr. Ernest de Bunsen; 'Broadfoot at Jellalabad,' by Sir Frederic Goldsmid; and 'The National Indian Congress,' by Mr. J. M. Maclean, M.P. 'LIFE AND LABOUR IN THE EAST END' is the title of a volume to be published before Easter by Messrs. Williams & Norgate, containing an account of the inhabitants of the East End of London and their trades. It is based upon a numerical division of nearly a million people, and gives an account of their manner of life and employments. In addition, "sweating," influx of population, and the Jewish community are specially dealt with. It is edited by Mr. Charles Booth, and there are seven other contributors. THE April number of the English Illus trated Magazine will contain a poem by Mr. Swinburne, called 'A Jacobite's Exile, 1746'; 'A Suburban Garden,' by Mr. J. E. Hodgson, R.A., illustrated by the writer; and a story of the Mutiny time in India by Mr. Archibald Forbes. THE Emperor of China has just issued orders for the preparation of a history of the Mohammedan rebellions in Yunnan, Kansuh, Shensi, and Turkestan, and five members of the Grand Council have been named as the committee to whom the work is entrusted. Similar official histories have already been written of the Taeping and Nienfei revolts. THE April number of the National Review will contain a lyrical poem of some length by Mr. Alfred Austin, called 'Look Seaward, Sentinel!' inspired by the projected increase of our naval forces. A LIFE of a lay Churchman formerly well known, the late Mr. Robert Brett, of Stoke Newington, is in course of preparation by Dr. Belcher, formerly Vicar of St. Faith's, Stoke Newington, and now Rector of Frampton Cotterell. It will be published by Messrs. Griffith, Farran & Co. Dr. Belcher, like Mr. Brett himself, was once a practising member of the medical profession, and was intimately acquainted with Mr. Brett in his later years. This book will include selections from Mr. Brett's letters, and also from his papers and speeches on various Church questions, as well as accounts of his church building and other works, and of his published devotional writings. A GOOD deal of surprise was felt when it became known a few days ago that Messrs. Spalding & Hodge, the well-known papermakers and wholesale stationers, had stopped payment. Their connexion amongst the London publishers was for many years on a most extensive scale. THE death is announced of Mr. Percy B. St. John, the author of various works of fiction. At one period he contributed stories to Chambers's Journal. The 'Arctic Crusoe' is one of the most popular of his works. Mr. St. John was sixty-eight years of age. In the forthcoming number of Mind there will be an article by Dr. H. Maudsley on 'The Double Brain,' dealing with the question of the separate action of the two hemispheres. Mr. Leslie Stephen will complete his essay 'On some Kinds of Necessary Truth'; and among the other contents there will be a novel research by Prof. Cattell and Mrs. S. Bryant, D.Sc., entitled 'Mental Association Experimentally Investigated.' Some account will also be given of the blind, deaf, mute little girl Helen Keller, who promises to outstrip in psychological interest the famous Laura Bridgman. A NEW translation of 'The Imitation of Christ' in English rhythm is announced by Mr. Elliot Stock as to be published immediately. It will contain a preface by Canon Liddon. We have to record the death of the Rev. Josias Leslie Porter, D.D., LL.D., President of Queen's College, Belfast, well known as the author of numerous works of Eastern travel. He occupied for several years the Chair of Biblical Criticism in the Assembly's College, Belfast, and, after holding for one year the new and important post of Assistant Commissioner of Intermediate Education in Ireland, was appointed to the Presidency of the Queen's College, as successor to the Rev. Dr. Henry, in 1879. He was a large contributor to Biblical cyclopædias and dictionaries, especially in the department of Eastern geography, and was the author of one of Murray's handbooks. He enjoyed vigorous health till within a few days of his death, which occurred on the 18th inst. from congestion of the brain, at the age of sixty-five. SEVERAL letters and documents addressed by the Emperors of Germany between the years 1275 and 1498 to the town of Frank fort-on-the-Main have recently been discovered. It is announced that the fragments of a number of other historical documents were brought to light at the same time. A CORRESPONDENT writes from Genoa : "The University of Genoa is at present closed, under the following curious circumstances. A meeting of the mathematical students, held for the purpose of discussing the fitness of their professor, Marchese, came to the conclusion of demanding from the Minister of Education, by telegraph, the appointment of a new professor. The grounds alleged or understood are that the present occupant is too old for his duties and unable to teach the higher branches efficiently. A deputation of students came with this telegram to the Rector, and asked him to send it in their name. The Rector naturally objected this, but suggested or consented that they should send it themselves, and even made some criticisms of the text. He has since tried hard to disclaim all part in the matter, but the deputation have openly affirmed that he read the telegram and approved of its being sent, though he did not express approval of the words. However, the Minister of Education took no notice whatever of the message, and after waiting quietly for a reply, the whole body of students joined the mathematical class in a general strike and refused to hear any lectures. So for the present the building is closed. The local papers counsel the obnoxious professor, seeing that he is not only old but rich, to resign quietly, and so avoid further complications. On the other hand, if chairs are to be vacated in consequence of complaining telegrams, a new era in university government will be inaugurated. The outcome of the dispute is therefore watched with great interest. It is rather odd, too, that the mathematicians should be foremost in insubordination. But Italian students are not like English." MR. JOHN DURAND has compiled, and Messrs. Holt of New York will publish, a of the American Revolution. The materials are from the French archives, in the exploration of which Mr. Durand has been long engaged while translating M. Taine's works. The work will contain some new points concerning Franklin, Beaumarchais, Thomas Paine, and others. volume Materials for the We hear with regret of the death of the eldest daughter of Mr. W. D. Howells, the well-known American novelist. In early life she gave promise of a literary career. MR. EDMUND RANDOLPH ROBINSON, pre siding at the annual dinner of the New York alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, stated that the new library of that institution would be opened in October. The building has cost 175,000 dollars. Among the recent contributions to the library are nearly 5,000 volumes from the philological library of Prof. Pott, of Halle, 1,000 Japanese and Chinese works, and 1,000 military and historical works presented by General Wylie Crawford. THE Government of India have decided that a general report on educational progress throughout India, such as was prepared last pared every five years. The annual sumyear by Sir Alfred Croft, need only be premary of provincial statistics which they have recently issued for 1887-8 shows, on the whole, satisfactory results. The aggregate number of public and private institutions rose from 127,116 to 133,125. The percentage of the total population of schoolgoing age which actually attended school rose from 10.7 to 11.8. In March, 1887, there were 3,343,544 pupils on the rolls of the different schools and colleges to which the statistics relate, while in March, 1888, the number had risen to 3,460,844. The increase extended to all classes of schools except the training schools. There was a sustained increase in the number of Mohammedan pupils, and a slight increase, from 1.4 to 1.8, in the percentage of female pupils to females of a school-going age. The total expenditure on education was 26,191,280 rupees. THE Allahabad University has made a good start. For its first entrance examination, which takes place on the 25th of this month, there are 1,414 candidates. For the Intermediate examination, which corresponds to the "First Arts" of the Calcutta University, there are 328 candidates; and for the B.A. degree 78. THE oration of Hyperides against Athenogenes, discovered some months ago in Egypt and purchased by the French Government, will be published shortly. THE death is announced at Bilbao of Señor A. de Trueba, a Spanish novelist and Basque scholar of reputation. His stories usually depicted life in the Basque provinces of Spain. THE chief Parliamentary Papers of the week are Roll of Lords (2d.); Civil Services, Estimates for 1889-90, twelve parts (6s. 2d.); Civil Services and Revenue Departments, Estimates for 1889-90 (18. 7d.); Public Accounts, First Report of Committee (1d.); Banking and Railway Statistics, Ireland (2d.); Land Commission for England, Report for 1888 (2d.); and Duchy of Lancaster, Account for 1888 (1d.). SCIENCE GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. THE Scottish Geographical Magazine publishes papers on the islands of Melanesia, by the Rev. Dr. R. H. Codrington; on the earthquake shocks experienced in the Edinburgh district on January 18th of the present year, by R. Richardson; and on Dr. Livingstone's last journey to the southern shore of Lake Bangweolo. We do not think Mr. Ravenstein has been quite successful in combining Livingstone's work with that of Lieut. Giraud, although his map is an improvement upon that which appeared in 'Last Journals, and his list of unpublished latitudes and longitudes, unearthed from Livingstone's diaries, is deserving our thanks. It is to be hoped that an early opportunity may arise for thoroughly exploring this lake. The return of Mr. Arnott to Msiri's court in Katanga, to the west of the lake, would appear to present a favourable opportunity for a scientific traveller to reach that region. Mr. we are glad to is the bearer of presents to the chief Chitambo, at whose village Dr. Livingstone expired on May 1st, 1873, a sum of 50l. having been granted by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society for that purpose. The Deutsche Geographische Blätter of Bremen contains an interesting article on the drainage of the Zuider Zee, by Capt. P. A. van Buuren. The writer discusses the various projects presented to the public since 1848, the most recent among which is that of Mr. C. Lely, published in 1888. For the present the chance of this great work being taken in hand is apparently a remote one. Capt. van Buuren's paper is illustrated by a series of maps and diagrams. The same journal publishes a map of the Southern Railway of the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, with a descriptive article by Mr. P. Langhans, If the information collected by Signor Borelli on the countries to the south of Abyssinia, and embodied by him in a rough sketch-map, published in the Bollettino of the Italian Geographical Society, should turn out to be deserving of trust, our notions respecting the geography of that part of Africa will have to undergo a considerable change. The Gibe and its tributary the Gojeb, which were hitherto looked upon by most authorities as the head of the Jub, appear, according to the information collected, to terminate in a large lake, which Signor Borelli calls Shambara. There can hardly exist a doubt that this lake is identical with the westernmost of the two lakes recently discovered by Count Teleki. Among the latest Calcutta publications is a very clearly written Sketch of the Geology of the Punjab, by Mr. H. B. Medlicott, late Director of the Geological Survey of India. The work was prepared some five years ago for insertion in the 'Punjab Gazetteer,' and it does not appear how it came to pass that its issue has been so long delayed. After an introductory chapter the subject-matter is dealt with under the heads "The Aravali Region," "The Plains," "The Salt Range and its Western Extension," "The Hima "Tertiaries " layan District" (subdivided ded into and "The Mountain Regions"), "The Afghan Region," and "The Suliman Range." These chapters are all instructive, particularly in regard to the light which they throw on the geological structure of the Himalayan range. For instance, in speaking of the main Himalayan axis, Mr. Medlicott points out that though in geographical portraiture predominance may be given to hydrographical basins and their watersheds, a strict application of this rule would place the principal Himalayan axis twenty miles too far north, quite away from the geological axis, and on to a secondary range produced entirely by denudation from the variously yielding outcrops of the sedimentary series on the flank of the gneissic or granitic axis. In this point Mr. Medlicott's opinions concur, if we remember right, with those of the late Mr. R. B. Shaw. The former contends that any regular correspondence between mountain chains and watersheds is impossible. In the case of the Himalayas there is less room for diversity of theories, as we have here an excellent exa example of a mountain chain coinciding with a geological axis. Another important geological contribution is A Bibliography of Indian Geology, or a list of books and papers relating to the geology of British India and adjoining countries published previous to the end of 1887, by Mr. R. D. Oldham, Deputy Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India and son of the well-known former Director of the Survey. The geographical limits of the countries have not been too narro narrowly interpreted, so any one interested in the geology of India would be able to follow out the kindred deposits and strata beyond the political boundaries of his field of inquiry. The compiler considers the catalogue to be fairly complete, except, perhaps, in the domain of paleontology, and he has erred, if at all, on the safe side by including many papers dealing principally with geography, archæology, botany, &c., which have been included on account of some isolated or scattered geological observations therein. Altogether the list will be a valuable aid to Indian scientific bibliography. Yet another publication dated 1889 is the Gazetteer of the Simla District, which has been compiled and published under the authority of the Punjab Government. The manual is very complete, and deals with the district, its fauna, flora, and geology, the people, their social and religious life, their occupations, industries, and commerce, and the administration and finance of the district. The work is not entirely original, being compiled chiefly from a settlement report of Col. Wace, a draft gazetteer by Mr. F. Cunningham, and other official reports. Some passages are suggestive, e. g., the following : "The agriculturists of the Simla district are in comfortable circumstances, and the standard of living has risen considerably under our rule. Many of them trade chiefly in opium; many more earn money by labour in out-stations and on our roads, contributes to their incomes. The principal causes The energetic action of Russia to counteract Shorncliffe, in the April number of Blackwood's Kum.' The adventures of the gallant colonel, then director of the Indian Intelligence Depart- with amusement. SOCIETIES. ROYAL-March 14.-The President in the chair. -The following papers were read: On the Organization of the Fossil Plants of the Coal-Measures, Part XVI.,' by Prof. W. C. Williamson, -' A Method of examining the Rate of Chemical Change of Aqueous Solutions,' and 'Relative Amounts of by Dr. Gore, and 'Note on the Free Vibrations of Voltaic Energy of Dissolved Chemical Compounds, an Infinitely Long Cylindrical Shell,' by Lord Rayleigh. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES-March 14.-Dr. J. Evans, President, and afterwards Mr. C. D. E. Fortnum, V. P., in the chair.-Mr. Walter read some notes on a remarkable monumental brass from Brown Candover, Hants, of late fifteenth or early sixteenth century date, probably unique in representing a man and woman arm-in-arm. The male figure wears a short tunic, and the lady has the kennel headdress with characteristic lappets. -Mr. J. Parker exhibited, and communicated an account of the discovery of, a cinerary urn of unusually large size, with accompanying vessels, found on the site of a barrow near Wycombe, Bucks. -Mr. W. J. Nichols exhibited, and communicated some remarks on, recent discoveries in some large pits at Toot's Hill Wood, near Beckenham, chiefly of late pottery, &c. ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. - March 7.-The John Hope read a paper on the Carmelite Priory, or Earl Percy, President, in the chair.-Mr. W. H. St. House of Whitefriars, at Hulne, Northumberland, in which he set forth at length the remarkable arrangement of the buildings as shown (1) by the extensive remains, (2) from Clarkson's survey begun in 1567, and the Duke of Northumberland. The Chairman spoke (3) from late excavations made by the noble owner, of the great interest of the place, and described the positions of sundry interments in the ruins, prin cipally in the vestibule to the chapter house. -Mr. Micklethwaite called attention to the importance of STATISTICAL. - March 19. - Dr. T. G. Balfour, dent, in the chair.-Messrs. P. N. Evans, P. A. Ε. PHILOLOGICAL.-March 15. Rev. Dr. R. Morris, while the sale of grain, grass, butter, and firewood | President, in the chair. - Miss C. Pemberton was elected a Member.-Mr. E. L. Brandreth read a Society's dictionary. Heartsease was first the wallpaper on his sub-editing work in He-, and on the gilliflower or wallflower, as Turner in 1548, and Bullein in 1562, have it, though Palsgrave called it "menue pensée" in 1530. It was imported from the Continent, and was known as a comforter of the heart and a curer of its pains. The pansy, on the other hand, offended the heart, because of its great coldness. But among the forty-three names of the pansy, heartsease was afterwards mistakenly included; Lyte has it, but Gerarde in 1597 was the authority that finally fixed the name of "heartssentimental reason for this imposture. Heddle, ease" on the pansy, and the poets then invented a ab. 1500, heald, 1800, is E.E. helde, A.-S. hefeld, the short strings to lift up the weaver's beam and let the shuttle pass, from hebban, to heave, swing, stretch; hevel is fine twine. Helioid parabola, quoted by from Harris, followed all other dictionaries, is a misprint for Harris's helicoid from helix: The separate trade of heel makers, for ladies' high wooden heels, seems to have showing in a Pall Mall shop ladies' shoes with blue died out. Steele's Censor issued an edict against heels, "which create irregular thoughts and desires in the youth of this realm." Heel-ropes were defined; and heeled citizens, those who carry a re volver, &c. The Society's dictionary contained far too many technical terms; it left out many good words, like alleviator, tree-lifter; box-spur, fitting into the boot-heel; boss, a game; brut, a dry champagne; battleworthy ship; artotypy, &c., and many names of trades. It defined wrongly brougham, broadshare, fishing-brogues, &c. MATHEMATICAL.-March 14.-Mr. J. J. Walker, President, in the chair.-Mr. C. E. Haselfort was Taylor were admitted into the Society. The followelected a Member, and Messrs. Roseweare and W. W. Involution Condition of a Cubic and its Hessian; ing papers were read: 'Notes on Plane Curves: IV. V. Figure of a certain Cubic and its Hessian,' by the President (Mr. Elliott in the chair),-'The Problem of Duration of Play,' by Major Macmahon,-' Some Results in the Elementary Theory of Numbers,' by Mr. C. Leudesdorf, - The Characteristics of an Asymmetric Optical Instrument,' by Dr. J. Larmor, -and 'A New Angular and Trigonometrical Notation, with Applications,' by Mr. MacColl. dent, in the chair. The following were elected HUGUENOT.-March 13.-Sir H. Layard, PresiFellows: Dr. J. J. D. La Touche, Messrs. C. S. Archer, L. Culleton, H. R. Ladell, H. Tasker, W. B. Vaillant, J. R. Vaizey, W. C. Waller, Miss W. Higgins, and the Bodleian Library. A paper was read On the Huguenots in North Britain, by Miss F. Layard, based upon inedited MSS. in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, and other Scottish collections, and showing the connexion of France and Scotland in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries in matters both ecclesiastical and commercial. MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. Mox. London Institution, 7.- The Characters of the Great Composers Society of Arts, 8.-Instruments for the Measurement of Mr. C. T. Dent. TUES. Horticultural.-11. Fruit and Floral Committee; 1, Scientific Royal Institution, 3.- Before and After Darwin,' Prof. G. J. Civil Engineers, 8-'The District Distribution of Steam in the Society of Arts. 8.- Borneo, Mr. R. Pritchett. WED. Society of Arts, 8.-Discussion on Prof. Kennedy's Paper, Fat. SAT. Electrical Engineers, 8. Chemical, 8.-Anniversary Meeting; Election of Officers and Antiquaries, 8. Two Wooden Standing Cups, Mr. E. S. field. United Service Institution, 3.-'The Soldier's Food. with Refer- Society of Arts, 8-The Progress of the Railways and Trade of Royal Institution, 9-Yeast, Mr. A. G. Salamon. Science Cossig. WHETHER due to an increase in the number of scientific men or their ambition, it is certain that the candidates for the Fellowship of the |