of organised labour. The Operative Painters had heard that the Baroness Burdett Coutts was employing some of her stablemen to paint her stables in their overtime. The secretary of the Painters' Union wrote a civil letter, suggesting that as there were so many painters out of work, it would be more to the public interest if the Baroness employed the painters to do the work rather than give the job to stablemen who were already in full employment. To this the Baroness replied in a letter somewhat needlessly vehement, in which she protested against the veiled threat of the Union, and asserted with uncompromising emphasis her determi nation to ignore the suggestion. The proposal made by the painters was not unreasonable, but of course if the Baroness or any one else choose to have their stables painted by stablemen they are within their strict legal right in pleasing themselves in the matter; nor is there any need for exalting a rude rejection of a friendly suggestion into the region of the heroics. As long as Unionists confine themselves to suggestions, no one has a right to complain, but there are many men who would like to send the Baroness to gaol if she gave a tinker a painter's job. It may be of course that the shortest cut to the millennium is to establish the Indian caste system in its severest form as the rule in English industry, but that can hardly be said to have been proved.

Mr. Fowler's broad and liberal-minded The Coming utterance upon the Parish Councils has attracted universal attention and almost

Elections.

In

as universal an agreement. Judging from the newspaper comments, there is a general disposition to accept his advice, and to elect the best men and women to administer the new Act regardless of party or of sect. Public opinion is gradually waking up to the fact that the elections for the Guardians and the London Vestries are much more important than the election of the Councils in the rural districts. London the field is being cleared for a great fight over the School Board election, which takes place in the middle of November. Electioneering will hardly begin in earnest until the end of this month. From the beginning of November to the end of the year little else will be heard of, and more local authorities will be elected in the last two months of this year than have ever before been elected in any similar period.

he has gone hard to work with uncompromising thoroughness. The Report recommends that the Lord Mayor with all his ancient glory shall be transferred from the elect of the City to the choice of the London County Council. The City will henceforth be called the Old City, and will have eight representatives on the Council, which will become a city council governing the whole of London. This council will have under it, however, some twenty district councils, which will be presided over by their mayors. The net result of the change will be that the Old City will be incorporated with Greater London, and the Lord Mayor of the future will be surrounded by nineteen mayors of districts. There is a great deal in a name, and it is possible that the conversion of the chairman of the Chelsea Vestry into the Mayor of Chelsea will have more to do with the development of local life and the stimulating of local spirit than all the other changes recommended by the committee..

Inoculation

At the International Health Congress, for which has been sitting at Buda-Pesth, Diphtheria. considerable excitement was occasioned by the announcement of the discovery of a cure for diphtheria, which is at present one of the most unmanageable of diseases. unmanageable of diseases. By this method it is brought under control by inoculating the patient with serum. By the use of this preventive system of inoculation the mortality from diphtheria is said to have fallen from 60 per cent. to 24 per cent. in a Paris hospital. The announcement of the discovery created created no small excitement, which was not confined to the medical faculty alone.

Australian Progress.

News comes from the Antipodes of the General Elections in Victoria. Sir James Patterson appealed to the country, and the country responded by electing 67 Opposition candidates and 28 Ministerialists. Three Ministers were defeated, and the Free-traders were smashed. Of the 95 members only 14 Free-traders were elected. Sir James Patterson resigned, and the Hon. George Turner is now the Prime Minister of the colony. In Queensland there has been so much trouble with the violence of the striking sheep-shearers that a district of 160 square miles has been placed under the provisions of the Peace Preservation Act, by which all carrying of firearms is strictly prohibited. The New South Wales Legislature has passed, by a large majority, a resolution in favour of female suffrage. Nearly every week brings news of fresh discoveries of gold in Western Australia.

THE COMTE DE PARIS.

(From a photograph by the Stereoscopic Company.)

International Science Congress of Catholics was
opened at Brussels.

Three mail-bags stolen from the General Post
Office.

Dr. Kennion, Bishop of Adelaide, was elected to
the Bishopric of Bath and Wells.

New Zealand Premier protested against the action
of Hawaii in annexing Neckar Island.
The German Emperor unveiled a Statue of
William I. at Königsberg.

At the Hygienic Congress Prof. Löffler, who dis-
covered the bacillus of diphtheria, presented
an interesting report.

Cholera increasing in Austrian Galicia.

5. Trades Uniou Congress instructed the Parliamentary Committee to introduce a Bill fixing the hours of work in all trades and occupations at eight per day, or forty-eight per week. Convention between China and Burma ratified. Hygienic Congress discussed the subject of cholera.

Inter-Parliamentary Conference at the Hague appointed a Committee to prepare a scheme for the establishment of an International tribunal of arbitration.

Publication of the Edict of the Emperor of China declaring war against Japan.

8. Duke and Duchess of York laid foundation-stone
of a new Hospital in Birmingham.
Trades Union Congress condemned the action of
the House of Lords on the Employers' Liability
Bill, and afterwards concluded their delibera-
tions.

Lord Lansdowne and Sir Charles Tennant
appointed trustees of the National Gallery,
The Queensland Legislative Assembly debated a
stringent measure for the suppression of out-
rages by shearers.

At the International Hygienic Congress a paper
on Cholera was read by Dr. Ernest Hart.
Convention with China signed, connecting the
Chinese telegraphs with those of Burma and
India.

The Comte de Paris died at Stowe House, Buck-
inghamshire.

9. International Hygienic Congress closed.

The Paris express train to Cologne collided with a goods train at Apilly; five persons kille 1. 10. Duke and Duchess of York laid the foundation stone of new Post Office at Liverpool, anl were presented with a Wedding Gift. Lord Rosebery presented with the Freedom of Dingwall.

11.

12.

The Chelsea and Kilmainham Hospitals Committee presented its report.

A Conference of the Catholic Truth Society was opened at Preston.

Meeting of the Iudependent Labour Party at Mem rial Hall.

A man named Hough confessed to having stolen three mail bags from the G.P.O. Chinese forces in Northern Korea reported to he hemmed in by the Japanese.

The French Ministerial Council decided to send a special Commissioner to Madagascar, the situation there having become untenable. Signor Crispi made a speech at Naples indicating a desire for better relations between the Italian Government and the Vatican. The Russian

Finance Minister statel that Russia's policy being one of peace, she would not stand by France if France begau a war. More forest fires reported from Northern Minne

sota.

The Autumn meeting of the Associate 1 Chambers of Commerce opened at Huddersfield. A meeting of railway men in Mem rial Hall protested against a seven days' working week. Hereford Musical Festival opened.

The Republican Party scored a complete victory in the Maine elections.

Chinese soldiers at Tienstin said to be plundering and maltreating the populace.

Lord Kimberley sent a reassuring reply to the Anglo-Armenian Association about the prisoners at Yuzgat.

A Treaty of Alliance between Japan and Korea is reported, the object of which is to carry on the war against China until the independence of Korea is secured.

Funeral of the Comte de Paris at Weybridge. Meeting of French Legitimists in London, addressed by the Duc d'Orleans.

13.

At the Conference held in Glasgow between the Miners and the Masters, the latter refused to consider the Federation terms, but made an alternative proposal.

Nomination of candidates for the Legislative Assembly of Victoria.

Labour Members, in the Legislative Assembly at Brisbane, caused a violent scene, and eight were removed in custody.

Fire in Bermondsey, causing damage to the .extent of £80,000.

The War in Samoa is regarded at an end, the
rebels having surrendered to the King.
Riots between Mohammedans and Hindoos at
Poona.

Half-yearly Court of the Governors of the Bank of England.

Daring diamond robbery in Hatton Garden.
A new Land Bill introduced into the Legislative
Assembly at Sydney.

Leaders of insurgent Kaffirs in the Transvaal surrendered to the Boers.

Emperor William reviewed the Imperial Fleet.
National Peace Congress opened at Perugia.
Several deaths from Cholera in Liège.

THE DUC D'ORLEANS.

15

16.

The German Emperor sent a satisfactory reply to the Memorial of the British Committee for the Prevention of the Demoralisation of Native Races by the Liquor Traffic.

Five persons burned to death at a hotel in Llandilo.

The Court-martial in the girl slave-dealing case at Cairo acquitted Wacyf Pacha and Shawarbi Pacha. The other prisoners were sentence i to hard labour. Sir H. Kitchener refused to ratify the acquittal of the Pachas.

One of the Japanese columns advancing on the Chinese position reported to have fought two engagements; heavy losses on both sides. The murderers of Rev. James Wylie in China were beheaded; others implicated were degraded.

Tariff Committee in New Zealand reported in favour of a Reciprocal Australasian Tariff. The members of Lieutenant Peary's Polar Expedition returned to St. John's, Newfoundland.

The Japanese forces gained a complete victory over the Chinese at Ping Yang, 16,000 of the Chinese killed, wounded or captured. Japanese losses, 11 officers and 154 men killed.

A Hungarian girl fell dead while under the influence of a hypnotist.

Mr. Cecil Rhodes arrived in Mashonaland.
The Elections in Denmark resulted in favour of
the Conservatives.

The States-General at the Hague agreed to
support the Government Policy in the Dutch
East Indies.

17. 17,000 Colliers on strike in Scotland returned to
work.

Destructive Fire on Regent's Canal at Dalston. Great Naval Battle between the Chinese and Japanese Fleets, in the Bay of Korea, in which 29. the Japanese succeeded in sinking four Chinese Warships and damaging others. Four of the Japanese fleet sustained serious damage. 18. Mr. Gladstone sent a letter to the Bishop of Chester strongly supporting the Gothenburg system of licensing.

Encounter between 100 constables and a picket
of 5,000 miners on strike in Scotland.
20. Lord Rosebery opened an Exhibition of High-
land Industries in Inverness.

In the Election to the Legislative Assembly of
Victoria, the Ministry were defeated.
The Public Prosecutor and a Judge, in Greece,
while collecting information respecting
Brigands, were captured by a notorious band,
and soldiers were sent out in pursuit. The
brigands were exterminated, but the Prosecutor
and the Judge were killed in the struggle.
Reports received in Paris from Madagascar that
the Hovas were arming and fortifying against
the French.

The Netherlands Budget for 1895 shows a deficit
of eight million florius.

Celebration of the anniversary of the entry of
the Italians into Rome.

21. Colonial Exhibition opened in Manchester.

Annual Meeting of the Scottish Crofters' Society
at Fort William.

Mr. Stoddart's Team left England for Australia. 23. Demonstration in Dublin in favour of the Amnesty Movement.

Telegrams from Benin, W. Africa, state that
the British gunboats blockaded and shellei
Nana's town.

Gold reef discovered at Salisbury, Mashonaland.
The Chief Law Officer of the Argentine Re-
public issued a report recommending the
Supreme Court to confirm the Extradition of
Jabez Balfour.

Lord Plunkett, Archbishop of Dublin, con-
se rated a Protestant Church in Madrid, and a
Spanish clergyman as the first Protestant
Bishop of Madrid.

Bulgarian Elections took place and resulted in
favour of the Old Conservative Party.

The British Miners' Federation Conference resumed in Edinburgh, and declared in favour of continuing the Strike in Scotland. The Cunard liner Lucania beat the Atlantic record with a passage of 5 days 8 hours. Japanese in Korea rapidly advancing North

wards.

The Premier of West Australia made his Budget Speech. The Revenue showed an increase of 20 per cent.

Lombok, in the Dutch East Indies, was taken by the Dutch with the loss of only 12 killed and 49 wounded.

Lord Hawke's Cricket Team scored another decisive victory in the return match with all Philadelphia.

30. The report of the Royal Commission on the Unification of London was published.

Dr. Kitchin, Dean of Winchester, was appointed to the Deanery of Durham.

The reserves of the Japanese Imperial Guard were called out.

The Tzar in consequence of the condition of his health is preparing to leave for the Crimea. Resignation of M. Decrais (French Ambassador in London) announced. Baron de Courcel succeeds him.

180 Non-commissioned Officers of the Chief Gunnery School in Berlin were arrested for insubordination.

A Shelley Monument was unveiled at Viareggio by Shelley's Italian admirers.

NOTABLE UTTERANCES.

Sept. 3. The Duke of Devonshire, at Hope Valley, on the Death Duties.

A paper by Princess Christian on Nursing in
England, read at the Hygienic Congress.

4. Mr. John Redmond, M.P., on the GladstoneTweedmouth Cheques.

Mr. Delves, at Norwich, on the present position and prospects of Trade Unionism.

5. Mr. F. W. Bockett, at Newton Hall, on the founder of Positivism.

6. Mr. Chamberlain, at Liverpool, on Home Rule and the House of Lords.

Sir A. Kemball, on the present position of the
British East Africa Company.

Mr. Chamberlain, at Liverpool, on the Liberal
Unionist Party.

7. Doctor Keane, at the Catholic Science Congress. in Brussels, on the Parliament of Religious.

9. Lord Ripon, at Fountains Abbey, on Mr. Gladstone's retirement.

Lord Rosebery, at Dingwall, on Mr. Gladstone.
Mr. Keir Hardie, on the Liberal and Labour
Parties.

26.

27.

28.

Sir W. B. Forwood, at Liverpool, on Sanitary Progress in the Mercantile Marine.

Mrs. H. P. Bulnois, at the Sanitary Congress, on
Domestic Hygiene.

Dr. Langstaff, at the Sanitary Congress, on the
Overcrowding of Houses upon the Land.
Prof. R. Thompson, at the Evangelical Alliance
Conference, on the Relation of Christianity to
Modern Education.

Mr. Chamberlain, at Leeds, on Politics.
Bishop of Oxford on Dangers threatening the
Established Church.

Lord Rosebery at Dornoch.

Mr. Henry Irving, at Walsall, on the Municipal Theatre.

Dr. Klein, at the Sanitary Cougress, on the Etiology of Typhoid Fever.

Mr. W. B. Defries, at the Sanitary Congress, on the Theory and Practice of Disinfection by Heat.

Prof. Boltzmann, in Vienna, on Aerial Locomotion.

Prof. Barrett, at St. James's Hall, on Science and
Spiritualism.

Rev. Dr. Jenkins, at Tunbridge Wells, on
Present Day Unbelief and How to Meet it.
Mr. P. Bulnois, at the Sanitary Congress, on the
Housing of the Working Classes-Tenement
Houses aud Dwellings in Flats.

Sir Douglas Galton, at the Sanitary Congress, on the Teaching of Hygiene in Elementary Schools.

Mr. Chamberlain Interviewed in Birmingham on the Gothenburg System.

Mr. Geo. Livesey, at New Cross, on Gas Manufacture.

Dr. Stevenson, at the Sanitary Congress, on the Self-Purification of Water.

Mr. Deaken, C.E., at the Sanitary Congress, ou the Management of Sewage Farms.

Mr. Robert Williams, at the Sanitary Congress, on the Nation's Wealth.

Sir J. Creighton Browne, at the Sanitary Cougress, on the Prevention of Consumption.

OBITUARY.

Sept. 2. Rev. John Hamilton Thom, 87.
Prof. Brugsch, Pasha, 67.

3. Rev. Edmund Alexr. Fitch, C.M.S., 34.
Dr. John Veitch, LL.D., 65.

4. Lieut.-Gen. Wm. Cosmo Trevor.

Prof. Josiah P. Cooke, LL.D., Boston, Mass. 5. Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield, 74. 7. Col. Chas. Wolfran Nugent Guinness. Mr. Jno. Wright, Bristol, 90.

8. The Comte de Paris.

Prof. von Helmholtz, 73.

24. Anutal Congress of the Sanitary Institute opened at Liverpool. Sir F. S. Powell, M.P., delivered the Presidential Address.

10.

Japanese Parliament convened for an extraordi

nary Session on Oct. 15.

Cardinal Vaughan, at Preston, on the Reunion

Lord Hawke's Cricket Team scored a victory over the Philadelphia eleven by 131 runs. 25. The Colonial House of Representatives, New Zealand, passed Bills providing for expenditure of half a million in the purchase and opening up of native lands for settlements. The Tzar is announced to be suffering from kidney disease.

of Christendom.

26. Duchess of Devonshire laid the foundation stone of a new church at Eastbourne, towards which the Duke had contributed largely. It is estimated that from twelve to fifteen thousand of the Scottish coal-miners have resumed work. The loss of traffic to the three leading railway companies during the thirteen weeks of the strike has been nearly £332,000.

19.

20.

21.

Lord Derby, at Bury, on Technical Education. Rev. J. L. Davies, at the Carlisle Diocesan Conference, on Sunday Observance as affected by the conditions of modern life. Lord Rosebery, at Inverness, on public men, and Scotch and Irish Government. Sir Walter Foster, M.P., at Derby, on Co-operation. Lord Londonderry, at Carlisle, on the Duty of the Unionist Party.

Hon. Philip Carteret Hill, 73. Rev. Canon Cundill, D.D., 83. 15. Rev. Prebendary Roe.

Mr. Jno. Scott Bankes. 17. Vice-Admiral Seccombe, 78. 19. Dr. Greenhill, Hastings, 80.

A British Steamer seized by a Japanese Warship in Formosa.

22.

An Italian was sentenced in Paris to eight years' imprisonment for forging Bank of England notes to the amount of £1,600,000. Insurgent Kaffir rising against the Portuguese at Lorenzo Marquez.

23.

Senator Hill nominated by the Democratic Convention of New York State for the Governorship.

27. Mr. Diggle, at the re-assembling of the London School Board, delivered his Annual Address. Conference of the British Miners' Federation held in Edinburgh.

A New Ministry formed in Victoria, with the
Hon. George Turner as Premier and Treasurer.
M. Dupuy prohibited Bull-fights in Nimes.
Alderman Samuel and Mr. George Hand were
sworn in as the New Sheriffs of London.

24.

25.

Michael Davitt, on the Government and Ireland. Mr. John Redmond, in Dublin, on the Amnesty Movement.

Doctor E. W. Emerson, at South Place Chapel, on John Sterling.

Mr. Courtney, M.P., at Glasgow, on Home Rule and Parliamentary Procedure.

Sir Francis Boyle, M.P., at Liverpool, on Sanitary Progress.

Mr. J. Simpson, at the Royal Horticultural Conference, on the Utilisation of Waste Ground Unsuitable for Agriculture.

Mr Chamberlain, at Leels, on Government, the Irish Party, and the Peers.

Sir John Llewellen, at Swansea, on the Welsh Land Commission.

Sir Havelock-Allan to the Survivors of Lucknow.

The death is also announced of the following:Major-Gen. C. W. Campbell; Gen. Nathaniel Prentis Banks, New York; Sir James L. Robinson, Bart.; Gen. Norgate; Mr. Wm. Douglas Hamilton F.S.A.; Col. Lancelot Reed; Mr. Henry Lawrence Hammack; Lieut. Wm. Henn, R.N.; Lt. Col. Sir Wm. Forrest, 71; Frau Gabrielle FranklJoell, pianist; Jan Vrolyk, Dutch painter, 48; Gen. Stoneman, a Federal Commander; President Welling, Columbian University, Washington, 69; Capt. James Nicholas Lalor, 31; Rev. T. 0. Powlett, 72; Prof. Fabretti, 78; Lieut.-Col. James M'Caul Hagart, C.B., 78; Mr. Chas. Brandling, of Middleton Hall; Mme. Fursch-Madi; Sir W. R. C. Cooke, Bart., 67; Dep.-Inspector General Blenkins; Canon Pearson, 80; Dr. Greenwood, Manchester, 72; Bishop Hawkins, Methodist Episcopa! Church of Canada.

Professor Adeney, on Religion and History.
The Duke of Devonshire on the British Iron
Trade.

26. Henry Herman.

28. Lord Haddon.

HE two delightful volumes of autobiographical reminiscence which were published last month by Messrs. Bentley under the title of "The Life of Frances Power Cobbe, by Herself," enable even those who did not know her

Throughout

this Goliath of Gath. David's battle, however, was soon over, whereas Miss Cobbe's campaign against vivisection has lasted many times the duration of the siege of Troy. But it is not only that Miss Cobbe was the paladin and

knight-errant of dumb creation: she has been throughout her long and useful life one of the brightest and best champions of the claims of women to be treated as human beings and vested with the full rights and the full responsibilities of citizenship. Yet the very last impression which one would gain, either from the acquaintance of Miss Cobbe or from a perusal of her book, is that of an armoured knight, a "steel-clad citadel on armoured steed," through the bars of whose vizor it is in vain that we try to catch a glimpse of the human being within. Miss Cobbe, although a veritable Britomart of the nineteenth century, always rides into battle with her heart upon her sleeve and her cheery face beaming kindly sympathy, even when her eyes flash levin bolts against the torturer and the tyrant. She has been a fighter from the first, a true daughter of a soldiersire who displayed the fighting spirit of his race on many Indian battlefields. But for all that she has never ceased to be a fullhearted, plump-bodied, jolly Irishwoman, full of good humour and good temper, who, after seventy years of life, can look back and say it was good to have lived. Such a woman, mellowed with the maturity of ripe old age, is far more interesting now, when threescore years and ten have showered upon her head the benediction of old age, than when she was in her girlish prime. She has done well to publish her life while still she is among us, instead of waiting for the tale to be told when those who read the story would be saddened by the thought that she was no longer present to enrich and brighten the life of the world.

the lifetime of a generation hers has been the most eloquent voice, the most strenuously raised to plead the claims of our inarticulate brethren in fur and feather, and no one has done more to give force and volume to the movement in favour of dumb animals, which she truly declares to be a fresh Divine impulse of mercy stirring in thousands of human hearts. In these latter days a new vice has been born among men, and scientific cruelty, with its pharisaic phylacteries, has established itself as a kind of diabolic gospel of torture. It was Frances Power Cobbe who, like David of old, went forth with sling and stone to meet "Life of Frances Power Cobbe. Fy Herself." With illustrations. Two vols. R. Bentley and Son.

Especially is it well just now that the public, which is somewhat bewildered with the strenuous self-conscious

ness of that latest development of time-the New Woman -should be afforded a glimpse as it were from within of this first product of new womanhood which was old before most of our new women were born. The picture has none of the somewhat rude glare and crude colour which characterise many of the tribe, but there is a fine, mellow, radiant, jolly humanness about Miss Cobbe which is restful to the eye and cheering to the heart. Having said this much by way of preamble, let us, with her Life in hand, proceed to note the more salient features of this striking autobiography.

66

I-GIRLHOOD.

"I have tried to make this Life," writes Miss Cobbe in her preface, a true and complete history of a woman's existence as seen from within, a real life which he who reads may take as representing fairly the joys, sorrows and interests, the powers and limitations, of one of my sex and class, in the era which is now drawing to a close." It is the story of a life which began in 1822, and which, judging from the vigour and vitality which is displayed in every page of these two volumes, may well be prolonged into the next century. As such a life bridges a great chasm, and unites the past with the present, it is natural that it should suggest innumerable comparisons between the old and the new. Miss Cobbe, although somewhat saddened and darkened by contemplating the Nine Circles of the modern Inferno, finds it impossible even in her darkest moments to rid herself of the buoyant spirits and exuberant vigour which she inherited at her birth in the pleasant fields of Ireland, where her father was a good landlord of the English type.

A LIFE WORTH LIVING.

So far from repining at her lot, she distinctly affirms that her life has been so well worth living that she would gladly accept permission to run her earthly race once more from beginning to end, taking sunshine and shadow just as they have flickered over the long vista of her seventy years. There is much more of sunshine than of shadow in her long life, as is perhaps natural in one whose health has been so uniformly good that mere existence has been a source of endless enjoyment. As is natural in a woman who is thus gifted with superb animal spirits and inexhaustible energy, she can hardly refrain from a passing sigh at the thought of what she might have done had providence decreed she should have been born a man. Nevertheless she is content with things as they are, and she is quite sure that her woman's lot, even although uncheered by a single love affair, has been the best and the happiest for her. Her book is a revelation of the joy which is possible to a woman who never married and never loved.

A CONTENTED OLD MAID.

On this point Miss Cobbe is quite clear. She says that the value of her book will largely consist in " the evidence it affords of how pleasant and interesting, and not altogether useless, life has been to a woman although no man has desired to share it, nor has she seen a man whom she would have wished to have asked to have done so." It must be admitted that there is about this a certain lordly independence of the other sex which is rare among women, and not perhaps altogether to be admired either in man or woman.

It would not have been surprising if Miss Cobbe had been dissatisfied with her sex, for when she was born the doctrine of the subjection of women reigned with undisputed sway in the households of Irish Protestant landlords. The power of the head of the house over his

women folk was almost as supreme as that of an ancient Roman, and his women had no rights excepting to get a husband as best they could. Education in the modern sense was undreamed of, and it was believed that any attempt to earn a living would be fatal to one's position as a lady. Notwithstanding all this, Miss Cobbe's childhood seems to have been a singularly happy one. She was the youngest child, and had no fewer than four elder brothers to treat her as their pet and plaything. She asserts, like Mrs. Butler, that if she has become a woman's rights woman it is not because she has ever suffered in her own person woman's wrongs.

HER EARLY TRAINING.

The family seat in the county of Dublin at Newbridge seems to have been a spacious country residence which afforded an ideal home for children. The earlier chapters of her book abound with delightful pictures of a happy healthy child tenderly loved and carefully reared in the midst of an evangelical well-to-do household. Newbridge seems to have been a kind of Liberty Hall for the children. Little Frances, when it was fine, revelled in all the delights of a country life, and when it rained found an endless source of amusement in the library, where at an early age she devoured the poetry of Southey, Coleridge, and Sir Walter Scott, and soon wrote verse with great facility. After exhausting the resources of four governesses she was sent to a high school in London.

A GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL IN 1836.

Of this establishment, which cost her father £500 a year with extras, she gives a most extraordinary and almost incredible account. She prints it in order to inspire young women of to-day with gratitude for their present privileges, and it is admirably calculated to serve its purpose. Everything, she says, was taught in the inverse ratio of its importance. At the bottom of the scale were morals and religion, and at the top music and dancing. Of the relative importance of morals and music she tells an amusing story of one of the schoolmistresses who was admonishing a girl who had been detected in a falsehood. "Don't you know, you naughty girl, don't you know we would rather you had a mark of 'pretty well' in your music than that you should tell such falsehoods!" Music came first, then deportment, and after them drawing and the modern languages, while English, writing, and arithmetic brought up the rear. The religion which they were taught was a curious hotchpotch of catechism and formality. One Ash Wednesday the girls were provided with a first course of salt fish. After this was removed, roast mutton was brought in, but before commencing the girls were told that they might take meat if they liked, but that the mistresses hoped that they would fast, as "it will be good for your souls and your figures."

HER REAL EDUCATION.

After two years of this finishing school the ordeal came to an end, and Frances went back to Ireland to resume her studies in a more practical fashion. For a year or two she imagined that she had finished her education. Then she discovered she had everything to learn. She thereupon applied herself to study with characteristic energy. She studied history, Greek and geometry, and read the classical poems of all languages, either in the original or in translations. It was a varied and desultory education, but stood her in much better steal than the more scientific and elaborately arranged curriculum of the modern college through which she would have been thrust had she been born fifty years later.