future eminence. As a schoolboy he was ward, and did not redeem his dulness any signs of devotion to mechanical suits. As a youth he was sent in 1838 the trade school (Gewerbe-Schule) at deburg, where along with mechanics elementary physics he studied the nary branches of a commercial educa, including modern languages and hematics, with a view to the adoption 30me branch of the engineering proCion. This step was taken on the remendation of his eldest brother Werner, was then an artillery officer in the rison of that city. Their mother dying 838, and their father in 1840, Werner, igh only twenty-three years old, acted iceforward as chief guardian of the ily, and appears to have taken special rest in his youngest brother. In 1841 liam left the trade school and went for ear to the University of Göttingen, where brother-in-law Herr Himly was Proor of Chemistry. Here he worked hard cience, and on leaving received a certifistating that he had been "extrainarily industrious." Referring to this -t of his life in his evidence before the val Commission on Technical Education, said:

By an act of rebellion, as I may call it, nst my guardians, my parents having died, Tent to Göttingen, with scanty means, to get ore general education, and I there got a love Science and a determination to make my own

and beautiful invention, had greater sensitiveness than was required for ordinary steam machinery, and did not come into general use, but it was applied with success to more delicate purposes; for example, it was adopted by the Astronomer Royal to control the supply of water for driving the great equatorial at Greenwich, and has remained in use to the present time. Mr. Pole's account of this matter is hardly correct; he says it was applied "to regulate the motions of chronometric instruments."

Siemens's water-meter for measuring the supply of water through pipes was brought out during the same period, and met a want greatly felt. It is described as a miniature "Barker's mill," rotating with velocity simply proportional to the rate at which the water flows through it. It must be enclosed in the pipes, all the water must pass through it, and its bearings must be kept oiled-conditions not easily combinedbut after a few years of trials all difficulties were surmounted, and the machine has been largely used ever since.

While William was working these various inventions in England, Werner had taken up the new subject of electric telegraphs, and established at Berlin, in conjunction with a mechanician named Halske, a factory for telegraphic appliances, which gradually assumed large proportions. They supplied material for most of the lines in North Germany, and were the first to use guttapercha as a covering for wires. William Siemens became their agent in England in 1850, and in 1858 he started an electric factory at Millbank, having up to that time imported everything from Berlin. Newall & Co. engaged the firm of Siemens & Halske to act as electrical and consulting engineers for them in the matter of submarine cables, and in this capacity they carried out the electrical tests and assisted at the laying of many of the earlier cables. One of the members of the firm of Newall & Co. was Prof. Lewis Gordon, whose sister William Siemens married in 1859.

left the university at nineteen, and went a machine factory at Magdeburg, where was intended to remain for two years, The learned the business so quickly t one year was found sufficient; and he 3 then sent to England to dispose of an ention in electro-gilding, a subject to ich both he and Werner, with assistance Em Prof. Himly, had given much attenn. His success in this mission was rerkable. After a month or two spent in ling his way, he applied to Mr. Elkington Birmingham, and disposed of the invenn to him for 1,6007., less 1101. the cost of →patent necessary for working it. This a young man of twenty was highly enuraging, and he worked with renewed lour at some other inventions, especially at of the "governor" now well known, tich by means of a pendulum equalizes d regulates the speed of machinery with eat nicety. His efforts to introduce among nglish manufacturers the use of this inntion and of another designed for econozing the consumption of fuel in steam gines gained him a high reputation nong engineers, but brought him little cuniary return. Another inventionmastatic printing-which may be described a kind of lithography executed on zinc stead of stone, was equally unsuccessful om a commercial point of view; and for ten ears he led a life of much anxiety and disppointment, though he received first-class Ledals at industrial exhibitions, and obtained high position in the engineering profession. The regenerative steam engine (as his fuelaving invention was called) appears to have ways failed in practice, though the same rinciple as subsequently applied by him to on-furnaces proved a great success. The regenerative furnace, and of the new proovernor, though recognized as an ingenious | cess used in connexion with it for the manu

In 1864 he removed his electrical works from Millbank to Charlton, near Woolwich, and at the same time the English firm was reconstituted under the name of Siemens Brothers, the partners being the three brothers Werner, William, and Carl. Among their most notable achievements was the construction and erection of the principal portion of the Indo-European telegraph-a portion 2,750 miles long, extending from the Prussian frontier to Teheran. At a later period they constructed and laid the Direct United States Cable, the steamer Faraday being specially designed for this purpose by William Siemens.

The modern extension of electric lighting is mainly due to the invention of improved machines for generating electricity by mechanical power; and here Werner Siemens, as the inventor of the original "Siemens armature," and one of the three simultaneous inventors of the dynamo - electric machine (which was thus named by him), occupies the leading place. Electric lighting and the electrical transmission of power gave large employment to both the Berlin and the London firm.

William was the inventor of the Siemens

facture of steel. The principle of the regenerative furnace was likened by him to that of the "respirator," which, becoming warmed by the outgoing breath, is able in its turn to warm the incoming air. The flaming gases from the furnace, instead of being allowed as of old to escape direct into the air, are made to pass through a firebrick "regenerator," which becomes intensely heated. They are then diverted to a second regenerator, and the first is used as the inlet for supplying air to the furnace. In this way not only is a great saving of fuel effected, but a much higher temperature is attained in the furnace, and the resources of the metallurgist are correspondingly increased. A further improvement consisted in substituting gaseous for solid fuel, the coal being placed in a separate chamber, from which its gas passes to the furnace, thus preserving the steel from the contamination to which it was subjected by contact with the solid fuel, and bringing its composition completely under control. An experimental furnace was started by Siemens at Birmingham, and in 1866 he wrote:-"I can produce a ton of cast steel for less money than Bessemer, and of superior quality." In 1868 the Landore Siemens Steel Company was formed, and the process was carried out commercially on a large scale.

Another of his inventions was a powerful gas-burner, which for many years was the best of its kind. In opposition to the previous traditions of gas engineers, he showed that the best light could be obtained by heating both the gas and air before they were brought together for combustion, and he attained this end by utilizing the heat of the burnt gas, as in his regenerative furnace.

He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1862, Airy, Faraday, Thomson, Wheatstone, and Joule being among his nominators. He was president of the British Association at the Southampton meeting in 1882, and was knighted in 1883. He received the honorary degree of Doctor from the University of Oxford in 1870, and from Glasgow and Dublin at later dates. He died of heart disease in November, 1883, after a few days' illness. He was a man of powerful physique and singularly healthy mind, free from all trace of bitterness or irritability - a man of kindly disposition, who was on good terms with all the world. His lectures and addresses were distinguished by plainness and strong common

sense.

Dr. Pole, who has had a good deal of practice in engineering biography, has done his work in an unpretentious way, supplying a clear and brief record of a notable career. The only thing we are disposed to find fault with is the index, which is singularly defective as a means of reference. The most useful part of it is the chronological table of contents given under the head "Siemens, Sir William," which occupies four columns and contains many items not given in their alphabetical places.

Of the three volumes of Sir W. Siemens's scientific works, the first is devoted to heat and metallurgy, the second to electricity and miscellaneous subjects, and the third to addresses, lectures, &c. They contain not only papers, but also speeches made at discussions. What most strikes us in opening

THE eclipse of the sun on the 28th inst. will be annular only over a portion of southern Africa, and no phase of it will be visible further north than Southern Arabia. At the Cape of Good Hope nearly 07 of the sun's diameter will be eclipsed at four minutes before nine (local time) in the morning.

Venus and Jupiter are now the only large planets visible after dark. The former rises

about 2 o'clock in the morning, was at greatest brilliancy on the 6th inst., and will attain greatest western elongation on the 10th prox.;

the latter is in the constellation Sagittarius, and,

being on the meridian soon after midnight, is above the horizon all night.

Mr. Prince sends us his usual summary of weather observations made at Crowborough Hill, Sussex, during the year 1888. The mean temperature of every month was below the average (September only slightly so), excepting those of November and December, that of November being considerably above it. Of July he remarks that, with the exception of 1879, the mean temperature was lower than any recorded by him since the year 1841. The highest temperature recorded that month in the shade did not exceed

68°8. On only one occasion in the whole year did it reach 80°, which was on the 25th of June. The rainfall for the three summer months taken

together was higher than that of any year since 1860, with the single exception of 1879, which slightly exceeded that of 1888; but the fall for the whole year was about equal to the average of forty-six years,

The March number of the Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society contains a long series of drawings (with remarks on the appearances) of the planet Jupiter from observations made by Dr. Otto Boeddicker with the

reflector of three feet aperture at the Birr Castle Observatory, Parsonstown, and communicated by the Earl of Rosse. The series extends from 1881 to 1886; but only a few observations were made during the last two oppositions, because Dr. Boeddicker's time was then much occupied on a drawing of the Milky Way, which is now completed and ready for publication. The sketches of Jupiter were all executed with pencil and stump, and have been reproduced by a photomechanical process directly from the originals in order to avoid the inaccuracies frequently caused by the transferring lithographer.

Mr. Tarrant communicates to Nos. 2898-9 of the Astronomische Nachrichten a series of micrometrical measures of double stars observed by him at Pinner in the year 1887, in continuation of the observations made in 1885 and 1886, the results of which were published in Ast. Nachr. No. 2866. The instrument employed is a silveron-glass reflector by Calver, of 104 inches aperture.

The Rev. S. J. Perry sends us the 'Results | ing appointed for the election of Fellows

of Meteorological, Magnetical, and Solar Observations obtained at Stonyhurst College Observatory during the Year 1888. The solar observations include records of the daily amount of sunshine and of the sun-spot areas observed each day. Other astronomical observations of comets, of the small planet Sappho, of the lunar eclipse of January 28th, and of occultations and other phenomena were printed in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and other scientific publications. A large grating spectroscope was completed by Mr. Hilger in the course of the spring; this instrument now stands near the window of the Spectroscopic front of the window a stone pier has been Room adjoining the equatorial dome, and in built to support the heliostat and the 5 inch object-glass of Alvan Clark, which are to be used in conjunction with the spectroscope for photographing the solar spectrum and the spectra of sun-spots. The magnetical and meteorological observations were all continued as in former years; of the latter it may be mentioned that the highest reading of the thermometer in the shade was 84°0 and the lowest 14°4, and that the total amount of rainfall for the year was 42.04 in. An appendix gives the results of meteorological observations taken at St. Ignatius' College, Malta, by the Rev. J. Scoles. The readings of the barometer there varied between 30:53 and 29 35 in.; that of the thermometer between 102°-8 and 40°4; the rainfall amounted to only 13.75 in.

We have received the number of the Memorie

as

della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani for April. Prof. Tacchini, the editor, communicates the results of his observations of the solar spots and faculæ during the second half of last year. These indicate a considerable falling off in the fourth quarter as compared with the third, and also that such of the phenomena in question did appear were chiefly in the part of the sun's southern hemisphere near the equator. Prof. Ricco and Signor Mascari discuss the whole of the groups of spots and faculæ observed by them in 1886 with regard to their heliographical latitudes, and find the greatest abundance to have been in the region between 10° and 15° south latitude.

SOCIETIES.

ROYAL.-June 6.-The President in the chair.The annual meeting for the election of Fellows was held. The following were elected: J. Aitken, E.

Ballard, A. B. Basset, H. T. Brown, L. Clark, Prof. D. D. Cunningham. L. Fletcher, W. B. Hemsley, C. T. Hudson. Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, E. B. Poulton, Prof. W. J. Sollas, C. Todd, H. Tomlinson, and Frof. G. F. Yeo. Prof. J. Milne and Mr. H. Trimen were admitted into the Society. The following papers were read: Electro-chemical Effects on Magnetizing Iron, Part III, by Mr. T. Andrews, 'Report on the Effects of Contact Metamorphism exhibited by the Silurian Rocks near the Town of New Galloway, in the Southern Uplands of Scotland,' by Mr. S. Allport and Prof. Bonney, 'The Physical

Properties of Vulcanized Indiarubber, by Mr. A. Mallock,-' On some Variations of Cardium edule, by Mr. W. Bateson, 'The Conditions of the Reaction between Copper and Nitric Acid,' by Mr. V. H. Veley, 'Notes on the Absorption Spectra of Oxygen and some of its Compounds,' by Prof. Liveing and Prof. Dewar, -' On the Occurrence of Skatole in the Vegetable Kingdom,' by Prof. W. R. Dunstan, -and 'Note on the Photographic Spectra of Uranus and Saturn,' by Dr. Huggins and Mrs. Huggins.

a

GEOLOGICAL-June 5.-Prof. J. W. Judd, V.P., in the chair. - Major E. Parkyn was elected Fellow. The following communications were read : 'Observations on some undescribed Lacustrine

Deposits at Saint Cross, Southelmham, in Suffolk, by Mr. C. Candler, communicated by Mr. C. Reid, 'On certain Chelonian Remains from the Wealden and Purbeck,' by Mr. R. Lydekker, and 'On the Relation of the Westleton Beds or Pebbly Sands of Inland; with some Observations on the Period of Suffolk to those of Norfolk, and on their Extension

the Final Elevation and Denudation of the Weald and of the Thames Valley,' by Prof. J. Prestwich.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. - June 6.-Dr. J Evans, President, in the chair. This being an even:

were read. Rev. J. Beck exhibited is ecclesiastical jurisdiction at Bishop Storifor Edward VI.; (2) a bronze or latten figure t

Attleburgh churchyard; (3) an armorial for Kettlebaston-Mr. E. G. Bruton exhibiti of Robert de Malevile, found near Oxf Howard exhibited a seal of the state of Mr. Baker exhibited a remarkable bell of form from Bosbury. Herefordshire.-Mr. W hibited a number of antiquities found at a

able depth in Walbrook -Mr. Crippe three early silver spoons. -The followingger! were elected Fellows: the Lord Mayor of I Sir F. Boileau, Revs. C. Swynnerton, E T. Stevens, J. W. Jex-Blake, and E. AR and Messrs. H. S. Cowper, R. Howlett, E.S V. J. Robinson, and J. Y. W. MacAlister.

BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIS5.-Mr. W. H. Cope in the chair.-Mr. exhibited a plan of the Roman foundations Farm. A small chamber has been excar discovered at Beddington, on the Croydoun In the remains are doubtless of much larger en probably have some relation to the building about twelve years ago. -Canon Collier s of a Roman potter's kiln at Botley, H cently explored. It is 7 ft. 9 in. circular, w sloping entrance and a seat-like shelf-Er Compton described the portions of the western of London now laid bare by the pulling dr houses at Ludgate; and Mr. Loftus Brock po a plan showing their relation to the general ment of the City's walls. -Mr. Langdon er several rubbings of pre-Norman incised stor Cornwall. One of these was from an altar si in a garden at Pendarves, and similar to ans Camborne Church. Both are inscribed, the the tion on the first being all but illegible. The is inscribed + LEUIUT IUSIT HEC ALTARE ANIMA SUA. A key pattern, similar to what w on the Penally Cross, forms the border.Myers exhibited a fine collection of Egyptian jects brought by him from the East within th few months. - Mr. Irvine announced that part foundation walls of an apse had been foundat Per borough Cathedral, forming the east end of the north aisle, similar to that recently found at the south aisle. A paper was read by Mr. W. de Gray Birch on the newly discovered Anglo-Saxon charte of Edward the Confessor, now in the Brite Museum. It confirms the previous charter Leofric's.

ZOOLOGICAL. - June 4. - Mr. O. Salvin, V.P. the chair. The Secretary read a report on the s tions made to the menagerie during May.-Mr. H. Dresser exhibited and made remarks on some ex of the Adriatic black-headed gull (Laru mo cephalus) and of the slender-billed gull (Is gelastes), which had lately been obtained st nesting-places in the marshes of Andaluciaty Hanbury Barclay and himself. Papers were re by Dr. G. J. Romanes, on the intelligence of made with the female chimpanzee called "Sar chimpanzee, as shown in the course of experi the Society's menagerie, and from Signer Fr Monticelli, on some Entozoa in the collection Li British Museum. -Mr. Sclater read a list of the lis collected by Mr. G. A. Ramage (the collector ployed by the joint committee of the Royal Socity and the British Association for the explorati the Lesser Antilles) in Dominica, West Indies made remarks upon some of the species.

PHILOLOGICAL.-June 7.-Mr. A. J. Ellis in the chair.-Prof. Skeat read a paper on Exas

etymologies: chess, ceiling, clever. Fries

cosset lamb (L.L. cotseta, dweller in a cot (a boy), crare, cross (from crucem, through s from Irish), cudgel (A.-S. cycgel), cullis (Ft. L. colare, to strain) and porteullis, draught-b (from with-draught, cf. withdrawing room retrait, wydraught), faldstool (A.-S., in Le doms'), his Enk

wits,"

fantigue (Fr. fanatique, "out of Cotgrave), fit, refit (refectus, Promptori

furlong, galant nt (O.H.G. wallon), gamble leg, E. ham), gay (O.H.G. wahi), jay (O.H.G.gr gigging (Fr. quige), gite (Fr. guite, witart, wa the 'Ingoldsby" hand of glory" (Fr. masdig!? L. mandragora), goluptious, cry havoc (Ft. havot, havet, a hook, G. haf, clasp, catch, haver, havée, havement), herb ive (Fr. ite, b or germander), lake (a stream, A -S. lacu, ef. S lake, Mortlake, Lech-lade, not L. lacus), leak leka, to ooze, lak), latch, lea or leigh, and lee or le (lea, untilled land, A.-S. lea; lee, pasture, A-St læ'swe), merry Gyp (St. Mary of Egypt), marry up or come up (?); to mean (moan, A.-S. lament); melocoton, a quince or peach grafted o quince, Spanish (L. malum, apple, and cotoris molland, montanto (Sp. montante, a two-han sword) aumelette, omelette; picaninny, a te

- quassia; robbins (Dan. raa, yard of a ship); r-skirror scur-the country (L. excurrere); A.-S. scirian, to allot), &c.

IROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.-May 28. Mr. on, V.P., in the chair.-Lieut.-General Pittexhibited some crania found during some excavations at Hunsbury Camp and the Llantwil. Rev. H. G. Tomkins read

villant antior Shepherd Kings of Egypt

paper on the proprietorship of trees on the of others Mr. Hyde Clarke showed that this e case in Asia Minor, Melanesia, Borneo trees), India, Choto Nagpore (Moura), and pposed to be so in parts of China. He pro the joinership of the rights of property

in jurisprudence of

Ownership of land, which has no primitive

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.

slatic, 4- The Babis of Persia: No. II., Their Tenets and Literature, Mr. E. G. Browne.

ristotelian, 8.-8ymposium: The Nature of Force,' Prof. Bain, Prof. Dunstan, and Dr. J. Stoney.

Statistical, 7- Suggestions for the Census of 1891, Dr. G. B. Longstaff.

Colonial Institute, 8-The Native Princes of India and their Relations with the British Government, Sir Lepel Griffin. Zoological, 1,8-Supposed New Genus and Species of Pelagic Gadoids from the Mediterranean, Prof. H. H Giglioli; 'Collection of Land-Shells made in Borneo by Mr. A. Everett, with Descriptions of supposed New Species, Lieut.-Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen; List of Birds collected by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter in Masai-land, Capt. G. E. Shelley; Description of Hunter's Antelope, Mr. P. L. Sclater.

United Service Institution, 3.- Mechanical Coaling of Steamers,' Mr. J. Rigg.

Meteorological, 7.- The Climate of British North Borneo,' Mr. R. H. Scott; 'Variation of the Temperature of the Air in England during the Period 1849 to 1888, Mr. W. Ellis; 'Atlantic Weather and Rapid Steamship Navigation, Mr. C. Harding; Meteorological Phenomena observed during 1875-87 in the Neighbourhood of Chelmsford, Mr. H. Corder; 'Rainfall in China, and Meteorological Observations made at Ichang and South Cape in 1888, Dr. W. Doberck; On the Recent Thunderderstorms, Mr. W. Marriott. A number of Photographs of [Lightning will be exhibited.

Cyamrodorion, 8 - Annual Réunion.

Geological, 8.- Tachylyte from Victoria Park, Whiteinch, near
Glasgow, Mr. F. Rutley; The Descent of Sonninia and of
Hammatoceras, Mr. S. S. Buckman; Notes on the Bagshot
Beds and their Stratigraphy, Mr. H. G. Lyons; 'Description
of some New Species of Carboniferous Gasteropoda, Miss J.
Donald; Cystechinus crassus, a New Species from the Radio-
larian Marls of Barbadoes, and the Evidence it affords as to the
Age and Origin of those Deposits, Mr. J. W. Gregory.
Royal, 44

Linnean, 8.- Mammals, Reptiles, and Batrachia of the Mergui
Archipelago, Dr. J. Anderson; 'Prolonged Vitality in a
Fritillary Bulb, Mr. C. Packe.

Huguenot. 8. -The President's Annual Address, Sir H. A. Layard. Chemical, 8.-Election of Fellows.

Historical, 8)- Plato's Sequence of Forms of Polity as given in the Republic" "examined in the Light of the Actual History of Greek Cities,' Mr. H. E. Malden.

Antiquaries, 8] -'Examples of Silver Tea-spoons.' Miss Mainwaring; Autograph Letter of Sir Walter Raleigh, Dr. T. N. Brushfield; Report as Local Secretary for Cumberland,' Chancellor Ferguson; New Type of Great Seal of Edward I..'

Mr. W. de G Birch; Inventory of Westminster Abbey, 1388, Philological, 8. The Chinese Kuwan, Prof. Terrien de La

Dr. J. Wickham Legg.

couperie.

Physical, 3.-'Researches on the Electrical Resistance of Bismuth,' Dr. E. von Aubel.

Science Gossip.

MESSRS. MACMILLAN & Co. will issue almost nediately a new and cheaper edition of Mr. Arde Fowler's 'Tales of the Birds,' which were warmly received last year. 'The Owl's Renge,' which was lately published in Macmillan's agazine, will be added to the volume. A few *eks later Messrs. Macmillan will issue, uniform th the 'Tales,' a new edition of Mr. Fowler's st book, 'A Year with the Birds,' which has ready passed through two editions in its orihal form. The new edition will be fully illusated by Mr. Bryan Hook.

THE President of the Chemical Society, Dr. . J. Russell, F.R.S., and Miss Russell received the Grosvenor Gallery on Friday evening,

ine 7th, a number of Fellows of the Society nd other guests they had invited to meet Tendeléeff, the renowned Russian chemist, ho was recalled to Russia last week by the Iness of his child, and was, therefore, unable be present, or deliver the Faraday Lecture on me preceding Tuesday.

FINE ARTS

ROYAL SOCIETY of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS.-The UNDRED and ELEVENTH ΕΧΗΙΒΙΤΙON is NOW OPEN, 5, Pall Tall East, from 10 till 6.-Admission, 1s; Illustrated Catalogue, 1s.

ALFRED D. FRIPP, R.W.S., Secretary.

The NEW GALLERY, REGENT STREET.-SUMMER EXHIBITION HOW OPEN, 9 till 7.-Admission, 18.

THE VALE OF TEARS.'-DORE'S LAST GREAT PICTURE, comleted a few days before he died, NOW ON VIEW at the Doré Gallery, 5, New Bond Street, with Christ leaving the Prætorium, Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,' 'The Dream of Pilate's Wife,' and his other reat Pictures. From 10 to 6 Daily.-Admission, 18.

Art in the Modern State. By Lady Dilke. (Chapman & Hall.)

THESE 250 pages contain incomparably the

best work Lady Dilke has yet written-a bit of historical inquiry and argument in which art in the technical sense is

selected as a means for illustrating conclu

sions, political, social, and historical, of a bold and comprehensive kind. Compared with this volume her 'Claude Lorrain' and Renaissance in France' but imperfectly suggest Lady Dilke's power of thought.

A bright tone, characterized by sub-acid, but far from ungentle humour, animates all the chapters, and gives life to much that to most readers, and especially to English readers unacquainted with the history of French design in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, might have proved uninteresting. Above all things, this book is, as a piece of literary workmanship, distinguished by being thoroughly organic, and by every part being in due relationship to the rest.

Recent publication of the archives of the French Académie, as well as of the ancient bodies which that famous insti

tution superseded, has furnished Lady Dilke with opportunities of which she has taken advantage. She desires to illustrate the modern social system of France by showing the relations of the State to the arts under Richelieu and Colbert. Before their day neither State nor monarch paid any systematic attention to the arts, or regarded their professors as fit for anything beyond the occasional execution of commissions ranging in importance from the painting of funeral banners,

the designing of triumphal arches, and the

superintending of grand obsequies, to the building of palaces. Our author ascribes all changes in the social system of the

country, the arts included, to the necessities of the political position under Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., and she explains why Richelieu adopted the line which he chose, or, all powerful as he was in later days, was compelled to choose :

"When the reign of Henri IV. came to its fatal close, men weary of combat were ready to barter liberty for law. The ideal to which the sixteenth century had aspired-the ideal which had involved the liberation of human life from all the restraints which prevented its harmonious development was replaced by the vision of order. This love of order was the passion of the day, and in the name of order all tyranny was justified."

as his forerunners had dealt with the dukes and counts who opposed the central

power. For the people he cared nothing

so long as he could mould them into what he considered a nation. On this situation the Cardinal's "Testament Politique,” al

though of questionable authenticity, throws a flood of light, and of this remarkable document Lady Dilke acutely remarks that the best evidence against its being Richelieu's work is that it not only describes his intentions, but their success in the very direction he proposed. That he lowered the moral

tone of the people while he forced them into the form of a nation as he understood it, and thus prepared the way for that deluge which nearly wrecked France, is very obvious indeed. It is hardly too much to say that he is partly responsible for Napoleon III.

So close were the meshes of the Cardinal's net that even the arts, the existence of which as powers for good and evil had hardly been suspected by his forerunners, were seized hold of and turned to account. To this end he in 1635 founded the Académie Française, chiefly, no doubt, with an eye to influencing literature, but he destined it to incorporate such representatives of

science and art as could be bribed, coaxed, or forced into the academical uniform. It is evidence of the courage and independence of the better men in Richelieu's days that there is not a name of note in the original list of his Académie; his Academicians were

nobodies, and many of them were ignoramuses or pedants. A self-styled "Académie des Beaux-Esprits" was the nucleus of a body to form the like of which was presently the endeavour of nearly every nation in Europe. Richelieu so far succeeded that by his means "the world of letters was

brought into harmony with the new poli

tical and social system." The Dictionary was in many ways not only the work of the Académie, but a type of the scheme and victory of Richelieu :

"An overwhelming importance came to be attached to the use only of such words as had been approved by the official judge of taste : many in the highest degree valuable as means of expression were irrevocably ostracised on grounds of euphony."

The reader will find a capital account in this volume of the way in which the dullards who were merely scholars became useful political tools. The compass of the French tongue was thus greatly reduced, but, within given limits, it was rendered an instrument of remarkable perfection :

"The mechanical pressure applied destroyed

the flexibility of the language, destroyed its powers of suggestion, and thus acted even as a restraint upon thought."

More than this, let us add it pretty nearly broke the links which bound the people, who could not be elected into the Académie or take its pensions, to the better educated classes, and abolished nearly half the history of the language. A literature of words was formed with disastrous results to the literature of thought and passion.

So successful was Richelieu that at the time of his death he had on his side all France, except the nobles whom he had oppressed and crushed out of power. It was, as Lady Dilke says, a new France, in

"supreme authority, duly invested with the splendid symbols as well as with the grave reality of power, appealed not only to the national vanity and love of show, but to that profound passion for symmetrical unity and completeness which is the leading, and perhaps the noblest, trait of the French genius."

With equal vigour and the same firm hand our author has sketched the state of France under the sumptuous and rapacious Fouquet and under Colbert. Colbert cared nothing for art, but he was quite aware of the benefit decorative design could confer on the industrial crafts by making their productions attractive. For this purpose he brought craftsmen from Venice and Flanders; aggrandized and employed, if he did not found, the factories of the Savonnerie and the Gobelins, which were practical schools fed by other and inferior schools; and placed them under the care of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. For the sake of higher art, he founded the school which still exists in the Villa Medici. The war with Holland put a stop to most of these generous efforts, and the establishment at Bièvrebache was shut up. A new navy, new colonies, forests saved from destruction, laws codified, and many other things excellent in themselves, but having to be paid for, necessitated the imposition of burdens which exhausted France. The outrageous waste of the Court added to these prodigious demands, and Colbert's efforts to arrange the charges of the nation were quite modern where they aimed at reducing the demands upon the poor at the cost of the better provided; on the other hand, they, of course, left the middle classes little to spare, and rich men less to spend. Colbert wrote, "There is no one now in France but the king who employs sculptors, painters, and other skilful workmen"; and as Lady Dilke says, who points out how different it had been under the Renaissance, "The history of French architecture in the seventeenth century is simply the history of the royal palaces of France." On his own account, as it were, Colbert took the Louvre in hand, and to spend more on the metropolitan palace seems an odd way of checking the squandering at Versailles. To these great Parisian works the Conseil des Bâtiments was due; out of the Conseil arose the Academy of Architecture, which held its first meeting in the Palais Royal, December 31st, 1671. It did little or nothing for the Louvre and less for Versailles; the king's architects and builders saw to these so far as they went, and the new body was strictly academical. Le Vau was the favoured man, and finished Versailles without consulting the Academicians. The next thing was to enlarge the palace; this the younger Mansard did without much trouble to the Académie. He quite overshadowed them, and left them to find what employment they could in various small ways, so that they must have experienced little surprise when the king, in a saving fit, determined to put an end to them and stop their subvention. Driven to despair, they begged to be allowed to meet and teach gratuitously, and leave was granted

them to continue this glorious function.

Quitting the architects, we have to look to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture as the guide in organizing works

of the Grand Siècle. This was

micians had not an altogether phe time of it under the paternal care f bert, who, when they tried to shirk the of holding public exhibitions annuall manded them biennially, and insiste the artists lecturing before him (2 works sent in. Desiring to be del from the task of reporting discussions remonstrated, their business being course, to paint and carve, not to talk "saddled them with a secretary wh sisting that their discussions should be worth reporting. If the delivery monthly lectures in the Academy bees gular, he insisted that twelve more sh given on the paintings in the royal

and whenever these tasks became a wear the flesh, or professional engagements ir with their punctual discharge, his chie would appear and utter such alarming the to the stoppage of allowances as goaded to fortunate Academicians to fresh exertin

The maîtrise was surely avenged. subjection of the Academy grew 50 OC they dared receive no one, howevet siderable his claims, if offensive to the power." However, Colbert was not w tyrannical, for he encouraged his victi gifts of books, casts from the antique are still in the Louvre), and actually sented them with two Turkish slaves from the galleys at Toulon to serve as m in their life classes. Still, they hardly d call their souls their own, and at Cuter request they turned out the Protestic members Testelin, Besnard, Rouse,

Here in few lines is the whole of the question between fine art and bad. The silliness of most of the work Louis XIV. loved is obvious enough, and any man of taste can detect its vulgarity and offences against the logic of design. Such was art in that phase of the modern state. Yet it is remarkable that the French Royal Academy had in its early days to fight against the ancient guilds. The triumph of the Academy determined the future of France as a commercial nation, and largely contributed to her prosperity. Lady Dilke points this out, yet she rightly remarks that the guilds had done good service against seigneurial oppression, although she hasomitted to acknowledge the great value of their authority in keeping up the standard of fine craftsmanship. The standard began to decline as art declined in the earliest days of Louis XIV., if not before. During three centuries the maîtrise, or privileged body, possessed and exercised complete legal control over all trades and crafts in which carving, painting, and gilding had part. It entered workshops and houses, and seized and destroyed goods the making of which had not conformed to its regulations. This tyranny was avoidable only by | Louis Cheron. In short, the Academy became those who held brevets du roi and lived in royal precincts. The holders of these brevets were numerous enough to induce the maîtrise to fight them at every turn, and although in general the painters and sculptors, supported by the royal power, got the best of it, they were subject to meddling which was as disastrous as it was exasperating. The maîtrise appealed to the Crown to support their exclusive right of selling as well as producing works of art. Their opponents, in defiance, obtained royal protection for the society into which they had enrolled themselves, and thus the tables seemed to be turned. In the end Colbert backed the Academy and took the advice of Le Brun, who, knowing his man, asserted that French industry would gain by discrediting the maîtrise and overriding their privileges. Colbert saw the value of allies like the Academicians, who would support the centralizing influence of the State at the expense of the independence of the workshops. He brought Le Brun and his fellows into complete dependence on the Crown, and for ever set them free from the maîtrise.

In their turn the Academicians became an official authority for public works, galleries, collections, provincial academies, and schools, and centralized everything they could lay hands on. The Director possessed the practical control of all industries which demanded the co-operation of art. The liberty which the Academy had demanded for itself it denied to others: : it claimed a monopoly of teaching and lecturing, and no one else dared establish life classes for pupils in painting or sculpture. Need it be said that provincial art, once the glory of France and characteristic of every city where it flourished, vanished? Even the new Acade

a department, with all its advantages, a shortcomings and vices; for the politi victory, and the benefit to the national dustries, were (even supposing that bene could not have been had on other ter obtained at a tremendous price. Moh the mischief was due to false classis pedantry, which stifled the true Renaissan Lady Dilke prizes so highly. It is, we more than probable, considering the spec logical and organizing genius of the Fre nation, that French art would have secur all the glory which Lady Dilke elo describes, if, delivered from the had been let alone. The greatest gen of the French school had nothing to do the Academy of Le Brun-Callott, the P sins, Le Sueur, P. de Champagne, the Nains, Watteau (for a long time), and Gre to say nothing of such grand masters. later days brought forth, and who, as reb defeated the Academy of their day. P wrote, "I swear to you that if I had to in this country I should become a re mountebank like all the rest. Study reflection are unknown; whoever desire study or do well should fly from France Lady Dilke adds, "The gravity of which marked the old academicals disappeared." In fact, without the ficent autocrat Le Brun, the Acad of Colbert would have had no s at all. "He put his stamp on ed thing produced in France throughout seventeenth century [or after 1645, во the so-called style of Louis XIV. is int the style imposed by Le Brun on all

To Le Br

pupils and assistants." wonderful energy and resources Lady D does justice, without failing to recogni certain heartlessness in his work. Asoften been said, he was the type of