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some ether contained in the hollow of a tall ale glass, or other similar narrow vessel, it continues red-hot till all the ether has evaporated.

ELECTRIC TIdes.

A

CCORDING to Mr. Adams, of the Postal Telegraph Department, the telegraph circuits indicate the existence of tidal. fluctuations of the currents of electricity which our telegraphic system has shown to be continually flowing in the earth.

Mr. Adams has observed variations in the strength of these which follow the variations in the moon's position in relation to the earth, as the fluctuations of the waters do.

The subject is worthy of further investigation in connection with the fluctuations of the force and direction of the earth's magnetism, which have been for some time past among the objects of careful study in the magnetic observatories established in different parts of the civilised world.

"True as the needle to the pole" is rather an equivocal description of the constancy of a sailor's love, seeing that the needle varies considerably, and that even its variation is inconstant. If it were true to the north or any other pole, the old theory which ascribes its direction to the distribution of iron in the earth's interior might stand, but when we find it at one time pointing considerably east of north, then gradually approaching and finally reaching due north, then going beyond and getting far to the west, and now turning back towards the north again, we must look for some other exciting cause.

As a freely suspended magnetized needle arranges itself at right angles to an electric current, the North and South direction of the compass needle may be explained by E. and W. currents of electricity circulating in the earth, and these by solar radiation; but here again the inconstancy of the sailor's love-emblem baffles the theorist, and he asks for more facts concerning these earth currents.

A

SNOW-CLEARING IN LONDON.

CCORDING to the old Warwickshire myth, the Dun Cow commenced her career as a beneficent as well as a gigantic animal; she filled the pails of all who came to milk her, until a malignant witch brought a pail of which the bottom was a sieve. The good cow did her best to fill it, but in vain ; and finally was driven mad by the continuous failure of her frantic efforts.

I was reminded of the Dun Cow last winter when I saw the scavengers shovelling the deep snow into carts and carrying it far away to mysterious places of deposit. An easy multiplication of the area of London streets in square yards, by the weight of snow six inches deep lying on each yard, gives a total of 83 millions of tons as the total quantity to be removed.

As each cart holds about half a ton of snow when filled, a thousand carts, each carrying away 17 loads daily, would be occupied just 1,000 days—rather more than three working years—in thus removing a single heavy snowfall.

It would be well if the multifarious governing bodies of London would go over some arithmetic of this sort before we have another snowstorm, and also study the construction of the Norwegian snow plough, which is simply a heavy wooden sledge or frame shaped like the letter A with an eye at the apex of the triangle, to which eye is attached a hook connected with horse-gear when it is required for use. It sinks in the snow by its own weight, and as the horses pull it along it wedges away the snow on each side, making two long ridges and a clear way in the middle of the road, the width of which can be regulated by the span of the plough.

Hundreds of miles of road are thus cleared in Norway every winter, each peasant proprietor clearing that portion which runs through his own estate.

The cost of a few hundreds of these for London would amount to but a fraction of what is paid even for shovelling the snow from the middle to the side of the road; and if the work began when only a few inches of snow had fallen, a pair of horses could clear a narrow street at a hand gallop, or two pairs could do the like for a wide one, leaving a ridge in the middle to divide the up and down traffic.

W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS.

125

TABLE TALK.

"MARY STUART."

OETRY being the form of literature in which England boasts of

POETRY

standing foremost among nations, it is always pleasant to see her right vindicated to the position she claims. With the appearance of Mr. Swinburne's drama of "Mary Stuart," English literature is enriched with the finest trilogy that has been written, or at least preserved, since the days of Pericles. I cannot in this place undertake a criticism of the great work Mr. Swinburne has accomplished. Readers of the last portion of the trilogy will, however, do well to note the supreme skill with which the poet weaves into the story the letter from Mary to Elizabeth, in which the charges of unchastity brought by the Countess of Shrewsbury against the "virgin queen" are formulated. Whether this letter, which is still preserved at Hatfield, and is quoted by Mr. Froude, was ever delivered, remains doubtful. Using the privilege of the dramatist, Mr. Swinburne has represented it as preserved by Mary Beaton, who has received from Mary orders for its destruction. When the reluctance of Elizabeth to sign the deathwarrant cannot otherwise be overcome, this letter, traitorously yielded up by Mary Beaton, is shown her by Davison. After Elizabeth has once seen it, the doom of Mary is sealed. That Elizabeth read this document, which is wholly in the handwriting of Mary, and was found among the papers of Lord Burghley, is conceivable enough, and I will even say is probable; where the dramatist is shown is in the manner in which Mr. Swinburne makes Mary Beaton betray her trust and revenge the death of Chastelard by surrendering a document certain to work the ruin of Mary, to whom his death is due. We must go back to the great days of the drama to find an instance of treatment so large and so imaginative as Mr. Swinburne here displays.

I

A SLIP OF MODERN CRITICISM.

GNORANT, apparently, that any such letter as that to which I have alluded is in existence, a critic in an influential literary and political journal has fallen into the amusing error of censuring Mr.

Swinburne for the strong expressions he employs, in what is to some extent a mere paraphrase of Mary's words. Strong enough, though in no sense unfit for quotation, are the portions of the letter Mr. Swinburne puts into verse. In other portions, however, feminine venom and boldness of speech, backed up by the knowledge a woman alone can possess or employ of what will sting a rival to madness, nerve the Queen of Scots to bring accusations with which Mr. Swinburne will not soil his pages. It may with perfect justice be said of "Mary Stuart" that the characters, apart from their dramatic value, have a truth rarely found in history. The play, indeed, might almost be used as a text-book in English schools, as Scott's "Quentin Durward" has, it is said, been employed in the French Lycées. In every respect Mr. Swinburne's work is noble accomplishment.

AT

FIRES IN THEATRES.

T length the comforting assurances of the London managers that fires at theatres are not dangerous to the playgoer, and that instances of the destruction of a theatre while a performance is going on are unknown, are held up to derision, and a theatre with the chief part of the audience has been destroyed by fire. With the harrowing details of the burning of the Ring Theatre, Vienna, I will not concern myself. I will only, as one whose acquaintance with theatres is close, draw the lesson of the calamity. In spite of all that is urged by those whose fortunes are at stake, there is not one theatre in London in which a calamity such as has shocked civilisation might not occur. What is the use of a fireproof screen between the stage and the auditorium, when the man or men who have to work it are never on the spot? I have already mentioned my personal experience at a West End theatre, at which I found that the door intended to be used in case of fire was, when I essayed it, locked, and the man in charge of it was absent. When, by complaint, I got the door unfastened, it opened inwardly, and so was a mere death-trap. The approaches to the gallery are inadequate in most theatres with which I am familiar. It is high time that the system of turning shops and private houses into theatres should be prohibited. No theatre ought to be allowed to exist which is not open on all four sides, and does not stand as a separate risk, with no other building under the same roof or in any way contiguous. Entrances should then be made wide enough for six people to walk abreast. Until arrangements like these are made, such horrors as that at the Ring Theatre will always be possible,

There are at least a dozen theatres in London that should be compulsorily closed. These remarks are not uttered under the emotion caused by an exceptional calamity. Again and again, where no instance of contemporary sacrifice of life furnished a text, I preached the same sermon to the same heedless ears. So strange creatures are men, that the horror of a calamity impresses them little if the probabilities seem remote. Had the fire occurred in London instead of in Vienna, the underground theatres of London, and the houses with lobbies through which a stout man can scarcely walk, and in which two stout men cannot pass each other, would, after a few days, be as full as before.

THE SUNDERLAND LIBRARY.

AR beyond the wildest estimate formed by myself or by any

of the Sunderland Library. There can now be no doubt that the entire collection will fetch over sixty thousand pounds, or double the amount at which it was offered by private contract. What is most striking, moreover, is, that the books are all bought for England and America, and that the great French booksellers who have come over have had to return empty-handed. Virtually, what is rarest in the first part of the collection has now been transferred to Mr. Quaritch, who is the hero of the first fight. Indomitable in energy and resolution, Mr. Quaritch allowed no single work of high importance to be carried out of the country. I may however say that, in spite of the excessive prices obtained for the more important books, it was possible now and then to pick up a coveted lot at a price under rather than over the market value. There came at times a lull in the proceedings. The great champions who had borne the brunt of the fight retired wearied for a space, and a few prizes came to solace those who had been compelled to stand without the lists waiting for an opportunity. It would throw a little discredit upon English and French scholarship to mention one or two rarities that were allowed to go for as many pence as they were worth pounds. Such cases, I am bound to state, were few. Meanwhile, bibliographical works will have to be rewritten from the standpoint of the Sunderland sale.

"CHANCING IT."

ROM personal experience I can supply an instance of the

FROM

manner in which Englishmen are ready to face risks, or, as

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