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have taken place in the Cabinet. With one of these Sir T. Wemyss Reid concludes his article: 'There is another and still more memorable scene of the same kind of which I have had a private account. On the second of March last, Mr. Gladstone was present at a meeting of the Cabinet for the last time. He knew it, and his colleagues knew it, but the outer world did not know. That he was about to retire was by this time known to all; but only the initiated knew that this was to be his last Cabinet. The man who had been present at a greater number of Cabinet meetings than any other Englishman of this century, he who had in four successive ministries presided over the secret deliberations of his colleagues, was now meeting them for the last time, and meeting them simply to say farewell. There was a pathetic scene at that particular meeting of the Cabinet. One who was present has so far violated the secrecy of his office as to tell me that nearly all were in tears as for the last time they gathered round their veteran leader and silently shook hands with him. No more would they hear his voice in the innermost councils of the State; the foremost figure in the Parliamentary life of their time was passing from them. Such a meeting was an event of historic interest, and it has furnished a subject which the painter will probably some day make his own."

ΤΙ

FRANCOIS COPPEE.

HE brightest of the many interesting articles in the current number of Nordisk Tidskrift is Nils Erdmann's study of "The Life-history of François Coppée." The vivid description of the hotblooded, lively, bold-tongued Bohemian circle in which the bard moved, introduced as a freshling by his first friend and benefactor, Catulle Mendès, the poet, is most fascinating. Mendès himself was at that time chief of the circle-a twenty-year-old sympathetic, strong-willed, energetic youth, remarkably handsome, with long fair locks flowing over his shoulders, a dazzling white complexion, agreeable manners, and elegant appearance. He had, however, got himself into disrepute and low water by the writing of a ribald song, when Coppée first met him, and his family had wisely treated him to cold shoulder, and withdrawn from him their pecuniary support. His Coventry was the dark little attic of the "Blue Dragon" inn, and here Coppée paid him his first visit. A while later Mendès was pardoned, received his family's support anew, and moved out of the " Dragon" to pleasanter quarters, where he once more gathered about him kindred spirits of wit, intellect and genius. He had only a sleeping room and a salon. There was but little furniture, but his bookshelves were filled, and his walls were well decorated with paintings and engravings. He held a reception every Wednesday. The guests were welcomed by himself, and, stepping in, found themselves in the presence of a charming goddess, attired in red and lounging on a couch smoking a cigarette. Here stood the promising young poet Léon Cladel, his face

framed in with dark hair and beard, and looking somewhat like a Southern Christ. Here sat a future symbolist, Stephane Mallarmé, little, cool, clerical in appearance, "dreaming about a poet-art that must be music; verses that should give all the impression of a whole symphony." And here was a brown Creole, Herédia of Havanna, he who has just recently entered the Academy; over yonder, Glatigny, the actor-poet, with all the appearance of a circus clown, tall, with broad mouth, little head, large ears, and rapturously admired because he is "in print;" and just within the door stands Catulle of the long locks himself. thinner now, and looking like Napoleon at Arcole. There is a ring at the door; a cry of "Villiers! Villiers!" and a young man enters, with beautiful blue eyes, who tosses back "his flood of hair," bows, presses the hands of one and another of the guests, rolls a cigarette, twists his moustache, and presently seating himself at the piano, sings a dark improvisation à la Baudelaire. Count Villiers d'Adam lived, says Erdmann, as in a dream. It was known that he had for a short time buried himself in a cloister, and served for a short time, too, with the Pope's Zouaves. For the rest, none was his confidant or intimate. Into this charmed circle is Coppée now introduced"a tall, thin youth with a refined appearance, shy eyes, something of the clerk about him in his slim but new and well-brushed suit, but with a certain elegance, nevertheless, in his exterior, an ironical charm in his humor, and something indescribably gentle and melancholy in his whole personality that makes him noticeable, and almost compels one to look at him." On Saturdays, the poet Leconte de Lisle held a reception in his rooms on the Boulevard des Invalides. There was tea, poetry and reciting, and here young François might chance to receive a nod from the gray-haired, Apollo-like, and somewhat haughty host.

Lemerre's

In the existing "Passage Choiseul" was a little shop, open to all the winds of heaven, and overcrowded with books. It was kept by Alphonse Lemerre, antiquary and bookseller, and here every afternoon between four and six swarmed the longhaired and as yet unknown young bards and wits. Fair-whiskered Lemerre, somewhat reminiscent of Ronsard, allowed the lively impecunious youths all their own way; the air was filled with merry laughter, noisy jokes, riotous debate. hunchbacked assistant was, on the other hand, anything but a friend to the Bohemians, whose tricks scared away the customers and played the mischief with trade. In the midst of the throng was a young man, earnest and gentle, with a beautiful black beard, and a constant smile for the startling paradoxes of his comrades. It was the poet André Theuriet, a promising débutant, who was about to publish a volume of poetry, "Le Chemin de Bois," which won a prize from the Academy and brought him fame. Lemerre was the friend and publisher of the poor young rhymesters. He printed their organ, Le Parnasse Contemporain, which lived three years, and

not only were their poems printed, but they received some honorarium. Coppée had now gained an entrance into the literary world. He had worked hard and unselfishly for his mother and sisters; he left his old work now, and became a bard in earnest. It was not, however, until 1869 that he won any real fame. On the 14th of January in that year his first play, "Le Passant," was performed at the Odéon. His début was a conquest. All Paris raved about him. His old chums "The Parnassians" overwhelmed him

with their sincere applause and congratulationsamong them Gautier, Théodore de Banville, Augier, Sully - Prudhomme - all men of genius - laurel crowned. His fame is made. Newspapers tell of his life, of the sweet and tender mother whom he worships. Far away in the provinces "Le Passant " is being played; neckerchiefs à la Coppée are in every shop window. The Princess Mathilde Bonaparte is his patroness. Through her he obtains a post at the library of the Senate; in her salon-where every Wednesday circles a throng of artists and authors he makes new friendships; here meets Taine, Ernest Renan, the brothers Goncourt, the artist Fromentin, and in Flaubert-a kindred spirit -finds a firm friend.

But Erdmann's pages must be read to receive justice. The figures portrayed have almost the glow of life, the style of description is so enthusiastic and so clear, and Coppée, "with the world sorrow of a Musset in his eyes," and that nameless charm that women feel and love-even when Le Passant" was being played it was whispered that Sarah Bernhardt and Mlle. Agar were openly rivaling for the young poet's favor-is himself so fascinating a subject.

THE MARQUIS OF BUTE AND CARDIFF.

“TH

HE MAN AND THE TOWN" is the title of Mr. Dollman's article in the English Illustrated Magazine. It is a copiously illustrated paper describing Cardiff and the Marquis of Bute. Cardiff, which in half a century has sprung up from being a village of 10,000 inhabitants to a town of 130,000, owes its position, says Mr. Dollman, to the wealth, enterprise and foresight of the present Marquis of Bute, whose fame outside Cardiff rests largely upon his having served as the hero of Lord Beaconsfield's "Lothair." It was his father who decided to invest his fortune in the future of Cardiff, as he had the greatest possible stake in the development of the coal and iron trade. The present marquis did not come of age until 1875, but he set himself to following up the work which his father had begun. He built new docks, from which more coal is shipped than from all the ports of the Tyne together, and devoted himself generally to the development of the town. He has served as its mayor, and the castle, with its moat and ancient keep, is one of the most interesting of the local lions. Rothe Park has been given by Lord Bute to the town as a recreation ground, and three out of the other four recreation grounds of Cardiff were not only given, but were maintained by Lord Bute.

DECORATIVE ART IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

GRASSET and decorative art in

France together form the subject of an interesting article in the Studio (London).

HOME DECORATION IN ENGLAND.

M. Octave Uzanne, the writer, is filled with anxiety because of the plethora of painted canvas turned out every year in France, and thinks it would be entertaining to study with prophetic vision the ultimate destiny of it. At the same time he is impressed with the taste which presides at the fitting-up of an English home : "In England, a movement that makes progress every day has manifested itself for more than thirty years-a movement endowing architecture, furniture, and even ordinary and domestic articles, with a veritable springtide of form, arrangement and color. The fascinating element of originality in English decoration is as soothing as the first signs of early spring, and we must admit, however grudgingly, that in decorative art France is barren and unproductive."

In this connection we may refer to an article in the Magazine of Art of November and December, entitled "English Arts and Crafts from a Frenchman's Point of View." In it M. Victor Champiez first discusses the principles laid down by Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. Lewis Day, and others, and then proceeds to describe the last exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society. He, too, has a good opinion of English decorative art.

EUGÈNE GRASSETS' ART.

M. Uzanne traces back the origin of this sterility and then turns to Eugène Grasset, whose works have lately been exhibited at Paris-ornamental drawings, sketches for architecture, furniture, etc., water color drawings, studies for stained glass, specimens of illustration, book covers, posters, etc. Impervious to

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the theories of painter cliques, or of men of the day, careless of fashion, without vanity of any kind, he seems to hide his personality with as much care as he does his works, with which he never allows himself to be satisfied. In spite of his reputation as a craftsman not often pressed to hand over a design' copyright free,' Grasset has thrown into all branches of industrial art the spirit of a commanding personality.

"His cartoons for stained glass are, numerically speaking, quite extraordinary; his posters, his chromo-typography, his catalogue and book covers, his tapestry panels, his designs for furniture of all sorts, his architectural work, his lithography, his innumer able decorative works, might furnish material for an iconography far more important than we would think.

"In the special art of the Parisian street poster he is essentially personal; his street placards rival the curious chromo-lithographs of Jules Chéret, that master of genre. He contrives eloquent ‘puffs' for a railway company, a library, an exhibition, or an industrial product, and all with a taste which will survive the things that occasioned them."

THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF THE HOUSE OF

MR.

COMMONS.

R. SIDNEY LOW writes an article in the Nineteenth Century which he calls "If the House of Commons were Abolished," but which is really a demonstration that the House of Commons is really being abolished without any one noticing it. He argues with considerable ingenuity that if it were abolished the government of the country would go on with very little alteration. The gist of his paper is contained in the following paragraph :

"The most important of the functions of the House of Commons, according to all the text books and theories of the Constitution, are these:

"1. Legislation.

"2. Administration and executive control.

3. Financial policy and management.

"4. The discussion of abuses and the redress of grievances.

5. The appointment of Ministers.

"6. The testing and selection of public men in debate.

"It is impossible to maintain that the House of Commons still retains its old and theoretical supremacy and efficiency in all these matters, or indeed in any of them. The Cabinet in the first place, the Caucus in the second, the Platform, the Press, Public Opinion, Society and other powers and influences, have encroached on the domain of Parliament, and more particularly on that of the Lower Chamber, in one or other province, till now there is none in which the control of the House of Commons is absolute, and scracely one in which it has not largely abandoned the real, though not formal, authority and effective force to other hands."

By what means has this extraordinary decadence of the popular assembly been brought about? Mr. Low answers this question as follows? "The comparative weakness and inutility of the House of Commons is due mainly to the increased power of the Cabinet, and to the position of members of Parliament as delegates directed to vote with the party according to the orders of the Caucus, rather than as representatives able to exercise an independent judgment."

It is natural that having succeeded in demostrating the gradual disappearance of the House of Commons as an effective force in the government of the country, Mr. Low should conclude by asking whether anything could be done to mend matters. He replies, certainly there is one simple and practical expedient by which, if it were adopted, "the House of Commons would be, in fact, a Sovereign Assembly, and become, what it is not now, the real ruling element in the Constitution."

What is that expedient? Nothing more or less than that the members of the House of Commons should vote by ballot. If it did the power of the Caucus would wane, Ministers would cease to be despots, and M.P.'s would once more count for something in the state. It is a very ingenious article, and there is a good deal more in it than many people would at first be inclined to admit.

LORD ROSEBERY AND HIS POLICY.

HE Fortnightly publishes two articles entitled

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is rather a misnomer. The most important part of the first article, by the Frenchman, is a discussion of the best method of constituting a Second Chamber; the whole of the second article, by the German, is devoted to a demonstration that democracies cannot fight. Both subjects no doubt are important, but they can hardly be said to be views of Lord Rosebery. The Frenchman's Key to the Mystery. The Frenchman, however, does give us some views of Lord Roseberry. He is M. Augustine Filon. He is puzzled by England's Prime Minister, and in order to get some light as to his character he has read up his Pitt, and he thinks he has found in it the key with which to solve the mystery. He says: "The most important sentence in the book, and the one which gives the keynote to the whole, is the sentence in which Lord Rosebery mocks at the 'common and erroneous view' that regards 'human nature as consistent and coherent. The fact is, that congruity is the exception, and that time and circumstance and opportunity paint with heedless hands and garish colors on the canvas of human life.'"

WHAT THE FRENCH THINK OF HIM.

M. Filon says that when Lord Rosebery first took office every one in France distrusted him, believing him to be a German. After a time they discovered that he was an Englishman—which he is not, as he is Scotch. They are still ill at ease about him. He says: "As a matter of fact, there is a great deal of admiration and a certain amount of sympathy in our feeling for him, but I am forced to admit that the early mistrust survives. He remains a psychological problem, and every unsolved problem is disquieting."

KIND ADVICE IN THE IMPERATIVE MOOD. M. Filon then discusses several things, and returns, at the end of his article, to administer to Lord Rosebery some advice as to his conduct and general behavior if he is to win the approval of Frenchmen in general and M. Filon in particular, which of course is very kind of M. Filon. He says: "Lord Rosebery knows the good-will of the French political world better than I do, and he will take care not to lose it. He has a chance of strengthening his position, of making his mark, and showing his real self after his long course of politic hesitation and diplomacy, of giving proof of his character, now that he has given proof of his wit, of fixing upon a definite Liberal policy both at home and abroad, of holding to it, and, if necessary, of falling with it. He is at the turning-point of his political career, and it is he, not we, who must find the real Rosebery. To that end he must abandon the charming theory of the variable and manifold ego, which is nothing but a series of dissolving views; he must revert to the good old doctrine which regarded a human being as a compact whole, a homogeneous and distinct personality,

'consistent and coherent,' and able to remember to-day both the deeds and the thoughts of yesterday.

"NOBODY ASKED YOU, SIR,' SHE SAID."

"I cannot altogether divest myself of an old prejudice derived from my early education in favor of the 'common and erroneous' view. I mean the belief in personal identity, which appears to me the necessary condition of real responsibility. I may admire the man of many parts (l'homme multiple), I may read his books, enjoy his wit and look with pleasure on his pictures, even when they represent Agincourt or Waterloo; but, if I were a business man, I should not choose him as my partner, and if I were a woman, I should not accept him as a husband. Moreover, if I were a nation, I should ask something more than words before I linked my fate with his."

The German's Opinion.

The German is Professor Delbrück of the Preussische Jahrbücher. He begins grimly enough by saying that there is no German view of Lord Rosebery, because in Germany he is unknown. He is a mere party leader, but his policy, so far as it is understood in Germany, is regarded as impossible. That impossible policy is the alliance of Imperialism and Radicalism, which in Germany is universally expected to result in a great catastrophe for England.

NO WAR, NO EMPIRE.

The following passages are interesting as indicating the German view of English parties and English policy: "There can be no imperial policy where there is in the last resort no possibility of waging a great war. The very first condition of such a policy is an adequate military equipment, and such an equipment is not yet compatible with Radical principles. The Athens of Pericles proved this in the past; it has been proved anew by the France of to-day. England is not now supposed to be in a condition to meet any serious political crisis like the wars against Louis XIV, the Seven Years' War, or the gigantic struggle with Napoleon. The England of earlier days survived because it was an aristocracy.

.. Public opinion-or the people, if you likewere not altogether powerless in the eighteenth century, but they could not be said to rule. Lord Rosebery, on his first assumption of power, declared, both in theory and in practice, for Imperialism. He made his confession of faith, too, as to the essence of such a policy in the phrase, the best foreign minister is a mute minister.' But in the end his Radical principles will not fail to be the ruin of his Imperialism. At this moment the Radicals are directing all their energies against the Upper House; and if, by some means or other, they can succeed in destroying it, they will proceed to the breaking up of large estates. When both these pillars are gone Conservatism will have lost its hold in England.

"Take away the great Conservative party from English political life, and discipline among the Radicals will inevitably go with it. Probably a Radical England would see the rise of a party which would brook no imperial policy at all, and which would in

gratiate itself with the masses by promising them the utmost economy in naval and military expenditure. Because a Radical England would not be ready for a great war, Germany holds that Lord Rosebery's programme of Radicalism with Imperialism' is a practical impossibility."

MORE GOSSIP BY SIR EVELYN WOOD.

SIR his boyhood in the trenches before Sebastopol

EVELYN WOOD'S charming reminiscences

are continued in the Fortnightly, but not concluded. When they are reprinted they will form a very delightful volume of stories about the last great European war, which will be a universal favorite especially with boys.

His pages teem with adventures personal and otherwise. Take, for example, this story of how he was frozen tight in a battery:

"In the second week of December, I went to sleep in the twenty-one-gun battery about 8 P. M., when it was freezing, and I was more anxious to get out of the wind than into a dry spot. The wind dropped and it rained about 2 A. M., when, although I felt I was' getting wet, I was too tired to rise. When I tried to do so just before daylight, I could not move, the water having frozen around me, for with the coming day the temperature had fallen. My comrades carried me back, and putting hot bottles to my feet and around my body, with loving care and attention saved me from frost-bite."

Notwithstanding this experience he maintains that: "The climate of the Crimea, though more variable, is but little more inclement than that of the North of England.”

The frightful destruction of life was due, not to the exceptional ferocity of the elements, but to the scandalous lack of provision on the part of the English Government. He says: "England gave its little army, however, neither enough food, clothing, nor even medicines. We did not understand feeding men, and animals fared still worse."

In proof of this assertion his pages literally bristle with ghastly stories of cruel privations heroically borne, which no patriot can read without mingled pride and shame. Speaking of the failure of the Commissariat Department, he says: "Supply by contract failed in two great wars during the last thirty-five years, and it is unlikely we shall during war trust to such a system in future; but unless our commissariat officers buy during peace they will not know their business in war. Direct purchasers should, I think, be the rule at all large military stations."

His article abounds with homely pictures of the reality of war; as, for instance, the following: "Few men till late in December had more than one shirt, which they had worn incessantly day and night for weeks. During the last week of October, when the days were pleasantly warm, our soldiers tried to wash their only shirt, and every afternoon in the trenches the covering parties might be seen picking vermin of all kinds from their garments.

THE PERIODICALS REVIEWED.

THE CENTURY MAGAZINE.

HARPER'S MAGAZINE.

F

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ROM the January Century we have selected Professor Noah Brooks' paper, called 'Glimpses of Lincoln in War Time," to quote from in the "Leading Articles."

A rather unusual article, and a very prettily illustrated one, is made on the subject of " Festivals in American Colleges for Women." Ladies who respectively represent Bryn Mawr, Smith, Wellesley and other of the American woman colleges, write short essays telling of the observ. ances, fêtes and celebrations of their almae matres. The editor calls attention to the difference in the customs,-for instance, the college cries,-of the women's institutions from those of our men's collegos. Mr. Gilder says:

"There is every reason that n institutions for women æsthetic culture should proceed along such lines, for in the hands of women especially rests the gentler side of life. If the love and art of grace and beauty are not with them, where shall these qualities be found? In all parts of the country is to be noticed of late years an increase of interest in gay and beautiful pageants, of one sort or another, on land or water. Women have in these a great part, and this new tendency in our rather hard and strained American life is surely one to be cultivated at school, in our homes and in our communities."

Mr. Hiram S. Maxim, who has been for several years very much in evidence as an inventor in the field of aërial navigation, tells in this number of the Century about a new flying machine. He describes, with very detailed cuts and diagrams and figures, this new aëroplane, which is propelled by steam, by a motor, in the construction of which steel plays a most important part. It is interesting to note that Professor Maxim finds aluminum decidedly inferior to steel, weight for weight. In the experiment with this flying machine,-which was about one hundred and five feet wide, over all, with an area of the planes used amounting to four thousand square feet, -a speed of thirty-six or thirty-seven miles an hour was achieved, and the total weight of the machine, with water, fuel and three men on board, is little less than eight thousand pounds; the total lifting effort ten thousand pounds; the screws made between three hundred and seventy-five and four hundred turns per minute; and the fuel used was naphtha. "At the time of writing, the machine is practically finished, but in order to continue the experiments it appears to me that it will be necessary to obtain a very large and level field completely free from trees and houses, where experiments can be made in manoeuvring the machine. I do not consider it safǝ to attempt free flight directly from a railway track with a great number of very large trees in every direction; the slightest hesitancy in manipulating the rudders, or the least mistake, might prove disastrous. What is required is to experiment with the machine running very near the ground, in fact almost touching it; and not until one has complete control of the machine should high or completely free flight be attempted. A suitable field for conducting these experiments is not easy to obtain in England, and is certainly not to be found near London."

Professor Maxim much deplores the great waste of time and resources which the French made in experimenting with balloon flying machines, which were on an entirely wrong principle, as the aëroplanists of to-day consider.

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In this number of Harper's, which is quite an attractive one, Mr. Lodge's paper is the only one that goes much beyond the merely entertaining values, unless it be Mr. Janvier's very readable "New York Slave Traders," and Alfred Parson's description of Japan's great mountain, Fujisan-the last illustrated by the writer's exquisite wash drawings. Then, in the Editor's Study," there is Mr. Charles W. Warner's tribute to Dr. Holmes, given with no uncertain words of praise and love. Mr. Warner thinks the present generation is perhaps unable to be critically just to Dr. Holmes on account of its admiration. "Dear Dr. Holmes,' is what it said, and never' Poor Dr. Holmes,' a term with which it is often obliged to qualify its admiration of men of genius." Mr. Warner says:

"Dr. Holmes is called an optimist. That was his temperament. He regarded the future without anxiety and the past without bitterness. He had his share of grief and sorrow and bereavement, but these he had not the egotism to inflict upon the world. He was an optimist, but his perceptions of life were perfectly clear, and humorously true. He did not lack at all the power of discernment necessary to sharp criticism, but he liked to think well of his fellows, and he wanted their love. He had a nimble enough satirical wit and a sharp pen, but he was exceedingly reluctant to hurt the feelings of any human being. He enjoyed running his pen through what was to him a hateful dogma, but he didn't wish to stick it through anybody's heart. In his contemplation of the past there was hardly a strain of melancholy, rather a feeling of tenderness for what was still dear."

Mr. Thomas Hardy's novel, which began in the December number under the title "The Simpletons," is continued in this January issue with a changed ame, owing to the fact that the author's attention was called to the similarity of the first title with another English work of fiction. The story now runs under the name, "Hearts Insurgent." The other story features of the number are the first chapter of Mr. Richard Harding Davis' three part novel, "The Princess Aline"-which takes us again into the New York "high life" that this young writer has observed so successfully-and Sarah Orne Jewett's story, "A War Debt."

F

SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE.

ROM the January Scribner's we have selected Robert Grant's article on "Income," and Maud Ballington Booth's on the "Salvation Army at Work," to be reviewed as "Leading Articles."

Perhaps it is in general introduction to the history of the past twenty-five years which Scribner's Magazine is promising to publish from the pen of President E Benjamin Andrews, that the magazine this month contains a rather lengthy paper by Noah Brooks, on "The Beginnings of American Parties." This paper covers the period from the adoption of the Federal Constitution to the doubtfully named "era of good feeling" which began about 1820. It is a plain statement of historical facts,

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