THE PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO.

IN the Pall Mall Magazine there is an interesting article by Mr. Legh, M.P., describing his recent visit to Montenegro. The report which he gives of his conversation with the redoubtable warrior-prince of the Black Mountain is very amusing. Mr. Legh says:—

In common with some other persons who occupy despotic positions, Prince Nicholas professes that he is animated by strong Liberal principles, and he entertains an especial admiration for Mr. Gladstone. Once, when expatiating to me upon the subject of his orthodox Liberalism, I ventured to ask the explanation of what appeared to me a slight inconsistency. How was it that many amongst the most heavily chained prisoners at Cettinge appeared to be in durance because they professed themselves to be Liberals? His Highness was quite prepared with his explanation.

"I am am a Liberal," he replied, "and there is no objection to personal rulers and potentates being Liberals; but all properly conducted subjects should be Conservatives, and I intend that mine shall, at all events."

Not altogether in vain, I thought, had he studied the idiosyncrasies of the object of his political admiration.

All great men have their failings, and Prince Nicholas' little weakness is that he imagines himself an authority upon British politics.

66

Why are you not in favour of Home Rule?" he inquired of me upon another occasion. objecting to it." "I cannot understand any one

"You have, Sir," I replied, "in the Podgoritza district and elsewhere, a large number of Mussulman-Albanian subjects. If these people agitated for separation, what would you do?"

"If they agitated!" exclaimed his Highness, in a tone of stupefaction: "if any subject of mine agitated for anything at all, I would very soon show him who was master here!"

One day, when various foreign representatives and high officials were present, Mr. Gladstone again formed the topic of conversation.

"I have but one thing to reproach that illustrious man with," remarked the Prince in an oracular manner. one listened intently, for it was felt that an important declaraEvery tion was coming. "Yes," he continued, "Mr. Gladstone has now been a very long time in office, and has done nothing yet to discover Jack the Ripper."

Prince Nicholas was kind enough to invite me to accompany him on a sporting expedition into the interior of the country. The fear of the Whips was, however, before my eyes, and I was obliged to plead the necessity of a return to Parliamentary duties, with a view to voting against the Home Rule Bill.

66

Why should that prevent you?

was the hospitable reply;

"I will write to Mr. Gladstone, and obtain special permission

for you to stay."

351 Nothing, in fact, could exceed the civility and friendliness of Prince Nicholas. model to autocrats all over the universe! Long may he reign and prosper-a

HUGH PRICE HUGHES' FIRST SERMON. THERE is a very characteristic paper in the Young Man from the pen of Mr. Price Hughes, in which the Welsh Methodist Boanerges of the West London Mission describes his first sermon. He preached it when he was

a boy of fourteen at boarding school at the Mumbles near Swansea. It is characteristic of the man that as soon as he was converted he was impressed with a deep conviction that he was called to the Christian ministry. Mr. Hughes says that while in the early years of his Christian life he had many doubts and misgivings with regard to the reality of his own conversion he never had the least uncertainty with respect to his call to the ministry.

When that call came I wrote to my father a letter as brief and direct as schoolboy letters often are, stating that I was convinced it was the will of God that I should become a Methodist preacher. To this my father replied in terms equally laconic, that he would rather that I should be a Methodist preacher than Lord Chancellor of England. That reference arose from the fact that I was then intended for the legal profession.

Mr. Hughes' first sermon was preached on the ground floor of a small cottage on a hillside on a Wednesday evening. He not only preached the sermon, but paid for the hire of this room from his own scanty pocket money. The congregation, he thinks, consisted of six or seven persons, some of whom were extremely dilapidated old sailors, who accompanied their movements with audible groans indicative of painful rheumatism. He selected as his first text, "It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." He wrote the sermon out, committed it to memory, and recited it. It lasted twenty minutes, and contained the sum and substance of everything which he has preached since.

Medicine and Morals.

He proposes that—

MENDELSSOHN AND SCHUMANN.

AN ARTISTIC PARALLEL.

THE music article of the month is a sort of artistic parallel, with personal reminiscences, of Mendelssohn and Schumann, by W. J. von Wasielewski. It is published in the Deutsche Revue for September, and will do much to dispel the foolish but rather prevalent idea that enmity and jealousy existed between these two composers.

A highly productive mind in any department of knowledge, says the writer, rarely stands alone in his age. Michelangelo and Raphael, Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, Goethe and Schiller, are conspicuous examples. What one seems to lack the other may often be said to supply. Similarly with Schumann and Mendelssohn. Schumann created from the inmost depths of his soul, whereas Mendelssohn, inclining to Goethe's idea of art, made his music a reflex of a beautiful and fascinating reality.

A HINT TO PADEREWSKI.

Their music bore a certain resemblance to their outward appearance. Mendelssohn was a finely-built, graceful figure. His bodily movements, as well as the expression on his face, were full of life. Everything tended to make him personally engaging and attractive. He was dearly loved and greatly honoured, especially by ladies, and he could say to them what would certainly be taken amiss from the ordinary conductor. Once when rehearsing for a concert, he told a soprano near him how wrong she was singing, and the lady in question made it her boast that she had been personally addressed by Mendelssohn. Another lady pursued him for an autograph, till he at last gave way, and wrote in her album some words from Haydn's "Creation": "And God created great whales," without giving the slightest offence.

A GREAT SILENT MAN.

There was something decidedly distinguished about the bearing of Schumann, but his outward disposition was of a very different nature from that of Mendelssohn. He had generally very little to say. Only with very intimate friends was he ever talkative, and then he was rarely happy in his manner of saying things. He expressed himself in rhapsodical sort of sentences, and thus disclosed something of the great soul-life which is so beautifully and so powerfully revealed in his music. But even in intimate circles he was often silent, yet conscious of all that transpired. He was evidently aware of this passive interest in what took place around him, for he wrote to a friend, "I scarcely ever speak, but more in the evening, and most to the piano."

But when Schumann did chance to come out of himself his face assumed an animated air, and his smile was most winning. Still, he spoke in a monotonous manner and in broken sentences, rather aloud to himself, but what he did say showed that he was following all that was going on. He looked good-natured, for his soul-life was not perceptible on his face, except for brief moments only, and people would have doubts as to the impression things were making on his mind. There seemed, so to speak, a veil over his eyes. He walked slowly, and in the house he would sometimes walk to and fro on tiptoe, as though he must not disturb the silence which held sway in himself.

THE MUSICIANS AS TEACHERS.

It was at the Leipzig Conservatorium in 1843 to 1845, that Herr Wasielewski had so many opportunities of

observing the two musicians in their capacity of teacher. Even at the lessons, Schumann was silent, only now and then volunteering a remark. Under these circumstances, it will be understood how almost impossible it was for him to communicate his great knowledge of his art to others. Mendelssohn, on the other hand, had the rare gift of leading young artists in the right way. He knew the right moment to correct and admonish, and never referred to anything but the matter in hand. Every word of his thus had a golden value.

Mendelssohn gave composition lessons twice a week, and always appeared so punctually that the pupils would be in the class-room awaiting him before the sound of the bell. Then they looked out of the window to discover from his walk what humour he might be in. He corrected the exercises in the class, and showed each one how this or that might be done better, and when he found a mistake similar to one he had seen before, he would go to the piano and reproduce the old mistake. As a conductor Mendelssohn was equally successful. He seemed to inspire as well as control the forces under his bâton. Schumann was less fortunate in this respect, but Mendelssohn had had experience in conducting from the age of twenty-four, whereas Schumann was thirtyseven before he could be said to have taken the bâton into his hand. He had, however, conducted his "Paradise and the Peri" some years before at Leipzig.

AS COMPOSERS.

In the matter of composition Schumann was vastly superior to Mendelssohn in many respects. He shows greater depth of feeling, a richer imagination, and a more poetic element, but he seems to have been slower to put his musical thoughts on paper. When Mendelssohn was called to Leipzig in 1835, he had already composed several important works. Schumann at that time was still in his storm and stress period. His mind was full of ideas, but he had not begun to utter them. It was about then that he wrote to a friend that he had learnt more counterpoint from Jean Paul than from his music teachers. He also wrote to his sister-in-law:

Mendelssohn is the man I look up to as to a high mountain. He is a real god, and no day passes without his giving utterance to some thoughts which one could wrap up in gold. And to a musical contemporary he wrote:Mendelssohn is the best musician the world has at this

moment.

AS FRIENDS.

Later as Schumann became more intimate with Mendelssohn, and had opportunities to exchange ideas on art questions with him, he writes to Clara Wieck, under date April 13, 1838:

I have not gone much to Mendelssohn; rather he has come to me. He is still the most eminent man I have met. There was no rivalry or jealousy between the two composers. Each recognised fully the other's high musical genius, but the objective clearness, the freshness, the grace of Mendelssohn's work procured him speedy and universal recognition, whereas Schumann's deeper and more poetic music required much longer time to make its way.

MR. WALTER MACFARREN has been interviewed for Sylvia's Journal of October, and Madame Albani for the Woman at Home of October.

ANTON BRUCKNER has just attained his seventieth year, and the Vienna Musikalische Rundschau of September 1st honours the event with a sketch of the composer's

career.

THE CASE AGAINST THE eight houRS' DAY. BY A COAL OWNER.

MR. EMERSON BAINBRIDGE in the Contemporary Review thus summarises the mine owners' case against the Eight. Hours' Bill for Miners:

WHOM IT WOULD AFFECT.

1st. The Bill (had it been passed) would have affected directly about 680,000 workmen and boys. Of these, 230,000 belong to districts which are opposed to the Bill. Of the 450,000 which remain, probably not more than 250,000 are working at the "coal face," where the hardest work takes place, and these are not working, and (as a rule) are not required to work, more than forty-eight hours per week. Over the past four months they have probably not averaged forty hours per week. If legislation is needed for any one, therefore, it is required for the remaining 200,000 men and boys who work in and about coal mines. But their work (and this should be very carefully noted) is no more arduous than that of hundreds of thousands of workmen in other trades who now work longer hours.

HOW IT WOULD LOWER WAGES.

2nd. Whatever hours (at present shortened by bad trade) the miners now work would have been still further limited by this Bill, as a miner now working six hours at the "coal face" would not have had his coal taken out by the other workmen and boys in the mine whose hours would be reduced, and as most miners now produce the best output they 'can per hour (working as they do "by the piece") their wages would be reduced, and the coal-getter would have to pay lower wages to the "filler."

HOW IT WOULD AFFECT OWNERS.

3rd. With a reduced output, and the same "day wages" and standing expenses chargeable thereon, the working cost of collieries would be increased. There are hundreds of collieries now working at a loss, and they cannot bear an increased cost. If extra men, as the result of shortened hours, have to be employed to keep up the output, it is obvious that this must be done at an increased cost.

4th. The certainty of a reduced output as the effect of this Bill-spoken of by reliable witnesses before the Labour Commission-was anticipated by Mr. S. Woods in 1888, and is proved by typical experiments.

5th. If the reduced output causes, as it surely must, an increase for a time in the selling price of coal, this advance, artificially obtained, will quickly be lost, as the demand for exported fuel, and for coal used in the iron and steel and some other trades, will shrink immediately it is found that an advance in price takes place.

6th. The only ground on which a reduction in the hours of colliers can be contended for at the present day is the suggestion that the occupation is more unhealthy than that of other workmen engaged in manual labour, and it is submitted that there is no evidence forthcoming proving that this is the case. As to accidents, it is proved that these are more numerous (in relation to the number of men employed) on railways than in mines.

ITS EFFECT ON PRICES.

7th. The most astounding fact of all, however, is that the House of Commons in the debate on the second reading, lasting but a few hours, stamped its general approval of the principle of a Bill which:

1. Would have raised the price of fuel to all manu-
facturers, and to 13,000,000 of the working classes,
for the temporary benefit of the mining population,
numbering under 700,000, or only about 5 per cent. of
the total number of people engaged in manual labour
in this country, and taking the increased cost at only
6d. per ton, this would amount to a tax upon the
consumer of no less than £4,500,000 per annum.
2. Which would have stagnated numerous industries
like the manufacture of iron and steel.

3. Which would have prevented industrious workmen, anxious to support and to elevate their families, from exercising their manual powers to fair and proper advantage, by working an extra hour or half-hour occasionally for the benefit of the families dependent upon them.

4. Which would raise the price of fuel to every consumer in the country, whilst other European countries, in which, as has been shown, wages are much less and working hours much longer, are enabled to go on as before, and to take away from England much of its export trade.

HOURS TOO SHORT ALREADY.

8th. It is submitted that the present is certainly a wrong time to raise the question of shortening hours, legally or otherwise. Nine-tenths of the collieries in this country are now working short time; the whole are probably not averaging more than four days per week, and it would be folly to do anything which would tend to check still further the productiveness of labour.

9th. If any change whatever is needed, it can be effected without legislation, and in support of this statement the writer ventures to assert that coal-owners, with very few exceptions, will probably be quite prepared to open their pits at any time to the workmen, on the condition that no coal-getter need work more than eight hours per day unless he chooses.

Mr. Bainbridge's conclusion is as follows:

If the House of Commons realises, should the Bill again come forward, that its real effect would be to tax the whole country for the sake of a very small percentage of the community, and that coal-owners are quite prepared to agree to shorten hours where long hours are at present a hardship, and would willingly agree (without legislation) that arduous work in mines should be restricted to forty-eight hours per week, there is little doubt that the Duke of Devonshire's conviction will be acted upon, leaving the question of the hours of mining labour to be dealt with and settled outside the House of Commons.

Dan the Ambulance Dog.

IN Scribner's Magazine Dr. Roosevelt describes "Life in a New York Hospital," in the course of which he tells the following capital story of "Dan the Hospital Dog." Speaking of the Ambulance Service, he says:—

There always is a crowd, except late at night, and were it not for the efficient and willing aid of the police, it would be impossible to do much for the patient. For some time the officers had an able and enthusiastic volunteer assistant in keeping the ground clear, and our ambulance had no trouble from delays due to the failure of other vehicles to make room for it. My dog, Dan, an animal of great intelligence, originality and determination of character, came to the hospital on a visit. He evidently came to the conclusion, after a few days of thought, that duty called him to take charge of the ambulance and everything connected with the service. He made friends with the horse, watched over the stable, and always "personally conducted" the surgeon on calls. He ran ahead barking furiously at any wagon which did not promptly turn aside, and giving tongue like a deer-hound even when the street was clear. He saw to it that persons who had no business to crowd around the surgeon kept at a respectful distance. None but police or firemen in uniform could approach within four or five yards, without receiving a decided hint from Dan that it would be safer for them to stop. He would walk slowly and with much dignity up to the intruder, looking steadily at his face, and speak to him in a low, half-whispered growl, at the same time ruffling the fur between his shoulders. As our driver said, “Dat dog never had to bite no one; dey got on to what he meant without it." If the surgeon called any one to his side, Dan at once regarded the latter as privileged to remain inside the forbidden ground, and took him under his protection.

THE FIRST IRONCLADS.

A SHORT and entertaining history of ironclads is given in Cassier's for August by Mr. R. H. Thurston. It is surprising to learn from it both how recent and how ancient a thing this sort of fighting ship is. Colonel John Stevens is named as the originator of the idea in 1812, but the first (modern) ironclad actually laid down was the Stevens' battery designed by his son for the United States Government in 1842. The first ironclads to see service were three French ones built in 1854, and employed in the Crimean War. The British ironclad Warrior was ordered in 1859. Since then ironclads have come to be the only formidable war vessels. But according to some authorities the Dutch were the first in the modern period of history to build an ironclad, and it is said that, during the siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards in 1585, the people of that city built an enormous flat-bottomed vessel, armoured it with heavy iron plates, and thus constructed what they regarded as an impregnable battery, which they named Finis Belli. Unfortunately the vessel got aground before fairly in action, and fell into the hands of the enemy. It was never employed by either side in any action.

So even three hundred years ago men thought that the invention of a new formidable fighting-machine had brought them to the "End of War!"

A VIKING'S IRONCLAD.

But Mr. Thurston finds the idea of the ironclad realised in remote antiquity. In the Icelandic Sagas of Thorstein-the writer's supposed ancestor-composed five hundred years ago and relating to events which happened a thousand years ago—

The story goes that Viking, son of Vifil and Eimyrja, is poisoned by drinking from the magic drinking-horn of Dis, sister of Harek and daughter of Kol; the former of whom had been killed by Viking in a duel, receiving a thrust from the irresistible sword. Angervadil, the sea-king, become the leprous victim of Dis, sails for home, and meets, on his way, another powerful Viking, Halfdan, who becomes his friend and

endeavours to aid him in his effort to, in turn, secure vengeance upon Dis. Of this great captain the tradition says:"Halfdan had a great dragon (war-ship) called Iron-Ram,' and all of this ship which stood out of water was ironclad; it rose high out of the sea, and was a very costly treasure."

Viking recovered and lived to fight many days, Halfdan remaining a faithful ally, and his eldest son, Thorstein, lived and fought after him.

Whether ironclads were built, or not, by the Scandinavian vikings, Thorstein's legend at least proves that the idea existed, and that the invention of the iron-plated ship is due to our forefathers of centuries, and possibly of more than a thousand years ago.

THE GERMANS IN ELSASS-LOTHRINGEN.
A FRENCHMAN'S REPLY.

A FRENCH-ALSATIAN, now residing in the department of the Maine-et-Loire, sends me the following protest against the statements made by Mr. S. T. Capper, as to the success with which Elsass-Lothringen have been Germanised. As an honest expression of sincere conviction, I gladly place my correspondent's letter before the readers of the REVIEW.

A zealous subscriber and reader of the REVIEW OF REVIEWS, I want to protest strongly against the article about "Germany's success in Alsace-Lorraine" in your last number.

That Mr. Capper has been deceived, I shall give but two proofs. If the Alsatians feel so much German, (1) how do they choose both for the German House of Commons (Reichstag), and for the local council (Landes-ausschuss), members who call themselves protestaires, viz., who protest against Alsace being a part of Germany? (2) How can you explain that, to-day, twenty-four years after the war, youths who never saw either France nor French soldiers, like better to leave for ever their home and parents, to be heavily fined and to have their property sequestered, than to serve under the German flag? Nearly one-third of the recruits happen to fly into France, but how many wished to do so and were prevented? And yet they know that, when in France, they ought to serve in the Colonial troops (légion étrangère), and are sent to Tonquin or Dahomey, whence but few come back unharmed. In fact, many German immigrants have settled in Alsace

(more than 140,000), and feel quite
comfortable and German. The
burgomeister of Strasburg, who
has talked to Mr. Capper, is one
of them, as well as every func
tionary appointed by the state; but
Alsatian people are as French as
ever. Their language sounds like
German may be, but the ditch be-
tween them and Germans is deeper
than the St. George's Channel be-
tween England and Ireland. It is
no political dislike; it is a differ-
ence of civilisation. I hope you will
excuse my English.-I remain, dear
sir, yours faithfully,
A FRENCH-ALSATIAN.

Knowledge continues to hold its place as a popular scientific periodical, and in it astronomy is still a favourite topic, the editor himself adding a contribution on Star Clusters to the September number. There is also a second instalment of an important series of articles on the Ancient Mammals of Britain, by Mr. R. Lydekker.

THE NEW MINISTRY IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

THE Australian Review of Reviews of July 20 gives some interesting particulars of the General Election which placed Mr. Reid, the Free Trader, in power in New South Wales. Never in the Colony was there so fierce a fight and so much printer's ink wasted. Among the posters which appealed to the eye of the elector on every hoarding were the following: "Vote for Labour and 10s. a day "; "Vote for Dibbs and grass soup"; "Vote for Slattery and the Gallows Tree Vote for the Government and damn. Australia"; "Vote for Parkes and Hell." The electors seem to have accepted the last alternative, so far at least as to give Parkes and his Free Traders a majority in the new Chamber. The result showed, says Mr. Fitchett, that:

66

Free Trade has gained in the contest, Protection has receded, especially in the cities, and the Labour party has lost both in numbers and prestige, and this in spite of the fact that, for the first time, the appeal was made to constituencies based on the principle of "one man one vote." For the 40 city constituencies there were 99 Free Trade, 54 Protectionist, 32 Labour, and 3 Independent candidates. The returns show that the Free Traders carried 33 seats, the Labour candidates 7, and Protectionists none. If the city were a reflex of the country this would

mean that Free Trade has swept the polls, and Protection is as dead as the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. The returns as we go to press show 58 Free Traders, 39 Protectionists, 27 Labour members, and one Independent. These seem to show that the Free Traders are masters of the situation, and Labour, too, has lost something more than numbers; it has lost a political function. It no longer

is less successful than he might be, and this for a not ignoble reason. He is too generous to his foes. He would allow a good character and noble motives to his most unscrupulous antagonist. Every one admits that, had he acted opportunely, he could have defeated at least a year ago the Dibbs Ministry. When he should have been mounting the breach and firing his guns, his critics complain that he was deliberating behind the baggage carts. Mr. Wise remarked to me recently that Mr. Reid was "the only gentleman in New South Wales politics," and Mr. M'Millan that he did not believe Mr. Reid could harbour revenge more than twenty-four hours. He is no intriguer, and he believes that he can banish intrigue from the political life of the colony. He himself aspires to the Premiership. "A new era will commence with me," he said. "In what way?" I asked. "Well," he replied, "I will make no new appointments to the Civil Service for two years; I will abolish patronage." Mr. Reid has little of the magnetic power which a leader needs, his eye lacks fire, and he has yet to prove in action that he can wear the mantle of Sir Henry Parkes. He is about fifty years of age, a barrister by profession, and a native of Sydney.

Mr. James Payn on the Calling of Literature. IN the Cornhill Magazine Mr. James Payn recently ended his series of reminiscent papers, "Gleams of Memory," with the following passage:

From designs by Mr. W. Val Miller, C.E.].

This Circle represents

The Total Male Adult Population of N.SW

Tboar aho Own No Land
showo White.

[in the Australian Review of Reviews.

holds the balance betwixt parties, for it is itself split into sections.

One apparently trifling change in the new Electoral Act greatly added to the picturesqueness of the recent elections in New South Wales. Under the old Act each candidate was required to pay a deposit of £40, and he forfeited this sum if he did not poll a certain number of votes. This was a not unreasonable precaution against frivolous candidatures. The new Act, however, abolished this, and any elector is free to put his name on the voting ticket as a candidate, without peril to his own pocket. There is no doubt this greatly increased the rush of candidates, and so added to the perplexities of voters. Nearly one hundred candidates went to the poll who did not get an average of ten votes each. Some got absolutely no votes-apparently not even their own; at least half-a-dozen went to the poll and got one vote each, presumably their own; while others got three, four, or five votes, etc.

THE NEW FREE TRADE LEADER.

Mr. G. H. Reid has been the official leader of the Oppositionduring the past two years. Before entering Parliament in 1880, he had been for years a civil servant in the Treasury.. He has held office only once-in the Stuart administrationwhen he was Minister for Public Instruction. In that capacity he made some real improvements in the administration of the department. But his Parliamentary career is colourless. He has been until recently a determined foe of Federation, and upon the close of the Federal Convention he did much in the way of discrediting the Commonwealth Bill. He is the most fluent and effective open-air speaker in Australia. As a debater, he

As to the calling of literature, which has been so much abused of late by some of its own followers, if I were to live twenty lives I would choose no other profession. It is the brightest and most genial of all of them, and, so far at least as my experience goes, the most free from jealousies and acrimonies. There are times, of course, when one would like to sentence a critic to be put to death "to slow music," but I have never felt inclined "to put my knife "-unless it was the paper-knife-into any of my brother authors. They are very pleasant company, as kindly friends as can be found, and more inclined to look upon one's faults with tenderness than what are invidiously termed the respectable classes. The pursuit of letters makes us friends all over the globe, but it does not lead to fortune. Leisure in old age has been unhappily denied me. I suppose without vanity I may say that, as regards popu larity, I have been in the first dozen or so of story-tellers; but my gains have been small indeed when compared with any one in the same position in any other calling. A judge and a bishop get £5,000 a year and a retiring pension. I have been exceptionally fortunate in receiving such small priz s as literature has to offer, in the way of editorships and readerships, but the total income I have made by my pen has been but an average of £1,500 a year for thirty-five working years. As compared with the gains of law and physic, and, of course, of commerce, this is surely a very modest sum, though it has been earned in a most pleasant manner.

THE need of temperance public-houses in America is strongly urged in the Homiletical Review by Mr. Milton Tournier, who presses the example of the coffee taverns and "Lockhart's" in Liverpool, Manchester, London, and other great British cities. In America there seems to be little or no competition with the saloon-keeper and his "free lunch."