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should be reserved for esoteric disciples, not poured forth in primers. Nevertheless, the obligation to Mr. Gladstone's ingenuity is very great. To use a phrase of his own this dissertation upon Homer is "incorporated thought; " the Homer of our schooldays sublimated and etherialised; the apotheosis is something too brilliant and too charming not to be cordially accepted; we would only return once and again to the sturdy critical Wolf and his prolegomena as a corrective; again correcting Wolf by Müller or Nitsch; not as an antidote, for we are well assured no poison lurks amidst the flowers of this manyhued garland, but only as a more sober and a more truthful estimate of Homer, i.e., both of the Homeric poems, and of the Homeric age. Meanwhile this little volume has served to levy tribute from history, cosmology, ethnology, and mythology, polity and ethics, art and religion, for the illustration and the adornment of Homer; whilst "Homer" in return has added to each a gorgeous contribution, from the bounteous wealth of his commentator. Still, Quo me rapis Tui plenum, might be the exclamation of the traditional blind old Bard of the heroic age!

This crowning of the Primers reminds us that Professor Huxley's "Introduction" is still, as from the first, "preparing." It is almost tantalising to have so inordinately long an announcement; the parturition is formidable, what will be the evolution?"

Conversations with M. Thiers, M. Guizot, and and other distinguished Persons during the Second Empire. By the late Nassau William Senior, &c., &c. Edited by his daughter, M. C. M. Simpson. London: Hurst and Blackett. 1878.

The political interest of these two volumes is of the utmost value;

the literary interest is hardly less. The political coup d'état of December receives from these records additional light, and while they clear up some misapprehensions, and correct some mistakes, they show it to be unmistakeably a foul unmitigated atrocity. Hardly less curious as a literary matter is the story of the coup d'état aimed at the Institute in May, 1855, related by so well informed a narrator as M. Ampère, himself an Imperialist with intimate social relations at the Elysée (pp. 17, 19, vol. 2). The story of the attentat, and the hitherto unexplained reluctance to execute Orsini, with the reason for it, is another of the Second Empire episodes which is here unravelled. There is, indeed, hardly a circumstance of recent French history that does not in some way or other find, if not its solution, at least elucidation and discussion in these Conversations. The record of those held with M. Thiers are themselves history; and those with M. Guizot are history with la haute politique of statesmanship superadded. Topics of all kinds, indeed, come across the speakers; the effect of the six years' enforced celibacy imposed by the law of conscription on the population of France, the condemning to it annually 40,000 of the best picked men ; Madame Ristori's reason for dying her own black hair yellow to play Cassandra; the piquant causeries with Madame Mohl, and her revelations of mysteries in the life of Madame Recamier; all this, and much more, the very cream of the salons, is detailed with sparkling vivacity; while disquisitions follow, giving M. Thiers' views on Free Trade, M. Guizot's on the prospects of Italy, on indifference to religion, on the difficulties of a good literary style, and the like. It would be almost sufficient to name Montalembert,

Mérimée, Duc de Broglie, Chevalier, Rémusat, Manin, Lamartine, Beaumont, as the minor dramatis persona of the book, for our readers to be quite sure that in the hands of Mr. Senior, with the editing of Mrs. Simpson, the record of these Conversations cannot fail to be of

permanent value as well as of of interest. They are just the conversations which photograph the men and the subjects that occupied them; just the books which, if we could have had them for the age of Queen Elizabeth, or even of Queen Anne, could not be enough prized, and which posterity will prize as the best contemporary comment on the period they cover of the Second Empire in France, and concurrently and incidentally of Europe generally, and in particular of England.

The record forms a most readable, charming book, as well as a work indispensable for historical reference.

The Cradle of the Blue Nile: a Visit to the Court of King John of Ethiopia. By E. A. de Cosson, F.R.G.S. Murray: London.

Abyssinia, ten years ago, had for Englishmen great interest, and later events have recalled it. Abyssinia then added the name of Magdala to the British peerage, and the Roman death of King Theodore left his heir a charge for guardianship to this country; but Abyssinia in the near future, and in regard to Egypt, may become of still higher political interest, though it is to be hoped that no second Abyssinian war may mark England's share in its fortunes. The encroachment of Egypt on the Abyssinian frontier is not alone as an element of disturbance; the slave trade of Upper Nubia is a matter of even greater moment; while, beyond everything else, civilisation in Africa is on every account becoming more and more

of importance, while the vast empire, with the warlike people of Ethiopia, will be one factor in solving the problem. These two volumes are an account of a journey which expanded from a mere shooting excursion among the highlands of Abyssinia into a formal visit to King Yohannes, and that again afterwards took an almost official character. Capt. de Cosson, who writes this book, with his brother Baron de Cosson, not only penetrated into the interior of the country, reaching both Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia, and the Lake Tzana, the great reservoir of the Blue Nile, returning through Sennar, and seeing Berber, the plains of the Soudan, or country of the blacks and the junction there of the Atbara with the Nile; but they were so received by the remarkable man who now fills the throne of King Theodorus that they obtained access to every source of information, and had unusual opportunities of doing so. The result is an account of life at the Ethiopian court, and a record of conversations with the king, extremely curious in themselves, and which may prove to be of_considerable value hereafter. It is not to be forgotten that the British Government has formally recognised the Emperor of Ethiopia, and has also approved the appointment in London of an Abyssinian Consul. That office is at this time held by Mr. Henry S. King, of Cornhill, a name familiar in literature. The complaints of encroachment on Ethiopian territory by the Khedive, and of aggressions by his troops, were carefully stated by King Yohannes, who seems to have well considered his frontiers. Pp. 35 to 48, vol. ii. ought to be read for their political bearing upon Egypt. And, still more, the question of slavery should be considered with the

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a book of travels in a remote country of rising interest these volumes will be found very interesting, and they open up many matters that have a wider bearing beyond the immediate subject. It is well written and lively without being flippant. We had marked for extract "a camel ride across the plains," but we can do no more than refer our readers to that heading and to the journey down the Blue Nile, as well as the description of Gondar. We expect, however, that the most attractive part will be the royal camp at Ambachara. Banquets of raw meat, with a master of the ceremonies robed in purple velvet and carrying his white wand, seem an incongruity; but they are fully matched by more incongruous blendings of barbarism and civilisation. If it may be regarded as in any measure a state of transition, this visit to the court of King John will at some future time form a curious picture of the Ethiopia of to-day. We are glad it has fallen to one so competent as the writer of these volumes to describe it, and that he has so well used the opportunities he had of doing so.

Dispauperisation : a Popular Treatise on Poor Law Evils and their Remedies. By J. R. Pretyman, M.A. Second edition, revised and enlarged. London: Longmans. 1878.

Mr. Pretyman is as severe upon the molluscous state to which inalienable right to poor relief reduces what should be the sturdy backbone of responsibility and independence, as Mr. Hornsby Wright is upon the evils due to unorganised charity.

"What is the use of saving? The parish must keep us," says Mr. Pretyman, is no uncommon language, but indeed the sentiment of a class. The problem of how to relieve the really destitute, and those temporarily unable to earn a maintenance, without discouraging thrift, is truly a difficult one to solve. The only certain way would be to make contribution to a benefit society compulsory; but what difficulties would stand in the way of carrying out so gigantic an ordinance! And questions which are but stilled might arise as to what is the equitable remuneration of labour, and upon what pittance it is possible to support life in a country where the territory is too small in relation to the population for nature to help the poor by her wild harvests.

In principle those are no doubt right who oppose the doctrine that the poor rate is to be regarded as the inalienable right of the able

bodied pauper. But before carrying out that principle, they ought first to make sure that social conditions have not been made to press unfairly upon the worker, by the want of knowledge or consideration of those who really have power. It is quite open to a capitalist to enter upon a trade which shall gather together a village of labourers, and then to lose his money in speculation and leave the helpless creatures without succour. Is it fair to blame the labourer that he cannot command the great forces that set industries in motion, or to refuse to make any provision for the con

tributor who has done his best to produce wealth, if by no fault of his own, by no lack of such foresight as he is capable of, he is left resourceless?

Before rejecting the makeshift system of parish poor relief, reformers ought also to have settled what is to be done with the helpless. It might fairly be urged that a labourer in work shall be left to support a bed-ridden mother or a sickly child. But what if he has an invalid mother-in-law or aunt on his hands as well, or three weakly children instead of one? The clear-brained theorist cannot be allowed to settle social problems by a rigid intellectual rule; the motherly mind is required which will take account of small exceptions and bend its sympathetic attention to the homeliest details of life. We want the woman's mind to enter upon these questions; the trained woman's mind, that is to say, which has acquired method without loss of womanly characteristics, and quick insight into detail. Practical, kindly Florence Nightingale's "Note of Interrogation" has never yet been answered by words that deserve to conclude by a full stop. We feel that a great question is opened when she refers to "the prevailing fallacy that, if we do not give to vagrants, they will find work for themselves. While helping the While helping the industrious to help themselves there is a greater thing still to do yet to help the helpless to help themselves."

Theorists have to discover whether what is given to the weak or ignorant with one hand is not taken away with the other, or whether something of greater value than the gift is not abstracted.

It seems idle, for instance, to preach virtue from the pulpit, and then to introduce politics into the village after the demoralising

fashion of election time, when money and drink are extravagantly squandered because the wealthy have a temporary interest in the lower classes. It is hard to expect an unbroken decorous regularity and thrift from the public's servants, and yet so to overwork them during Society's seasons or times of fashionable festivity, that they cannot take their meals from a table, and, if they are not Herculean, end in finding liquor the only thing they can stomach. It is hard to preach the beneficent reign of law, and yet practically to force struggling masses into damp and ill-built houses (where a whole family has been known to sicken without knowing why); to turn ignorant folk, held to particular quarters by the necessities of their peculiar kind of bread-winning, into alleys where the air is unwholesome and depraving, and where their children, who rarely see sunlight or Nature's face, grow up into apt pauper material like their parents. Such matters as these are common enough, and are by no means to be reckoned as hardships; but it is no wonder that the position of the labouring class should come to be regarded by kindly folk with some little sentiment, rather than with scientific absolutism.

There is perhaps a danger in discussing pauperism, of confusing two widely-different classes. One is that of the associated artisans, who are the aristocracy of the classes who live by handlabour, and are at present somewhat powerful; the other is the class consisting of members of the smaller and un - self-protecting trades, and the miscellaneous ruck of humanity that has been apprenticed to no craft, and lives by odd work of descriptions almost impossible to classify. There is a danger, in confusing such different kingdoms, of feeling strictly com

mercial with regard to the poor, when we are only irritated by the assumptions of the powerful organisations which can fight for themselves, though they are perhaps scarcely strong enough, even had they the will, to bear the burden of the problem of the great "residuum."

To return to Mr. Pretyman's work, we cannot but say that it possesses a high value: the literary classes at least can be said to do their duty in the way of such work as they can do for social amelioration. But while a city of the wealth of London can be left to decay by the corrosion of its own smoke, which defiles the air breathed by aristocratic as well as plebeian; and, while the middle classes are content to dwell with sewer-gas modestly admitted by a pipe or two into each house, we can scarcely expect that any very great ardour will be felt for the improvement of the condition of the poor. Dispauperisation would at least be approached if those who have power were alive to the importance of better conditions both for the mind and the body of the nation. What is spent in unnecessary luxuries would amply cleanse and replace all the foul and depraving conditions of physical existence in our country. The money lent to Turkey might have reduced the percentage of disease by a rate at least larger than will ever be paid on the loans.

We

might surely as comfortably have built wholesome houses in England with the money as extravagant palaces in Turkey.

Mr. Pretyman is a believer in industrial schools, in the teaching of domestic economy to working girls, and in many other excellent plans which we may trust are gradually being brought into the region of the practical. But in preaching to, and arranging for the

poor, there is a danger of omitting to preach to, or allow for, that prevalent capitalist whose only idea of the reality or position of his capital, whether the form it take be houses that hold living beings, or a trade that decimates its apprentices, is as representing a sum of money earning seven per cent. at least.

A Handful of Honeysuckle. By A. Mary F. Robinson. C. Kegan Paul and Co. 1878.

This little volume of poems is as interesting as it is modest. Occasionally its verses are feeble, and nowhere is there deep passion; yet every page contains true poetry. Although Miss Robinson should feel complimented by the comparison, we might liken some of her pieces to the work of Christina Rossetti.

The Passion of Dido; or the Fourth Book of the Eneid of Virgil, freely rendered in English blank verse; with notes. By William Johnson Thornhill, ex-scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, Canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral, &c. London: G. Bell and Sons. 1878.

Canon Thornhill has a better notion of blank verse than some popular poets that might be named. His rhythm is strong, and without either monotony or mannerism. We hope that we have before us an earnest that a version of the whole of the Eneid, by the same hand, may one day be presented to us. If we understand the author aright, he has already completed one-half of the task.

We ought not to pass by this work without reference to the notes, which are made especially interesting by their very full quotation of parallelisms between the text and the work of Englishwriting poets.

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