THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. THE Fortnightly Review opens the New Year with a capital number. Its contents are varied, topical, and, with the exception of Mr. Low's "Future of Parties in the United States," which was written before the election of Mr. Taft, thoroughly up to date.

A PROTEST AGAINST POLITICAL NONCONFORMITY.

"A Nonconformist Minister" publishes a plea that Nonconformity should mind its own business and keep to its own particular line :

It is a noble business, an exalted line. And Nonconformity, in its awakening, must surely flush with shame to think that while for many a year it has been making numerous and ardent politicians, it has made scarce any saints. For this is the true summing-up of the situation-and its bitter irony too. The service of man is an essential part of goodness itself, and the Church must say so. But it is not the Church's task to indicate along what lines the service is to be rendered. The deciding of that question devolves upon the Church-member when he quits the plane of Churchmanship for the plane of citizenship. The "ought" is to seize upon him within the Church. The "how"-the method-is an affair for without the Church.

But suppose it were proposed to worship Moloch by human sacrifices in Trafalgar Square, would "A Nonconformist Minister" say that the method of preventing this should not be taken in hand by the Church acting as a Church?

66 THE BLESSINGS OF NAVAL ARMAMENTS." "Excubitor," in an article bearing this title, dwells upon the employment afforded to labour by naval expenditure. He says:

The labour value of a Dreadnought is probably nearly 10,000,000 men-hours; there are yet no precise figures. That means about 10,000 men could, on such a ship, find employment for 1,000 hours; or, assuming the work to be done within two years, we have full employment during that period for quite 2,000 men. Practically the whole amount voted annually by Parliament for the maintenance of the Navy is distributed in payment of more or less skilled labour. Apart from officers and men of the Fleet numbering 128,000, and upwards of 50,000 reservists, the naval authorities employ in the Royal Dockyards, victualling yards, hospitals, and ordnance stores an army of 35,000 workers, not excluding a number of women, in a multitude of separate trades, and they are part employers also of the large staff at Woolwich and other arsenals engaged in the manufacture of ordnance.

DANIEL DEFOE.

A brilliant literary article by John Masefield is devoted to the author of "Robinson Crusoe." He says:

Like all well-known writers, Defoe was an abundant writer. He wrote almost every day (with great fluency) for nearly fifty years, producing in that time about a hundred and fifty known works, many of them, such as "The Journal of a Tour, The History of the Union," and the complete "Robinson Crusoe," extremely long books; and many others, though ostensibly mere tracts and pamphlets, such as Conjugal Lewdness," as long as an ordinary novel; besides several millions of words of able journalism, now mercifully buried under our own cataract of the same. Defoe is read by schoolboys and kitchenmaids, by sailors, by seekers after dirt, and by a few historical students. His popularity is a proof of the commonness of his vision. His inner eye never beheld the singing spirits, rushing in fire, "with all the fury of spiritual existences.' He beheld, instead, a broken-down mariner alone on an island, a penitent whore in Newgate, and a little dirty pickpocket asleep on an ash-heap.

OTHER ARTICLES.

"Auditor Tantum," writing on "The Opposition in the Commons," says:-" The present quality of the party both on the Front Bench and the back benches is poor beyond parallel in recent political history. The old gang' is just as ineffective as in Lord Randolph's day, and the ragged fusillade that comes from the unofficial Opposition leaves the Ministry unscathed." Mr. J. A. R. Marriott reviews and praises highly Mr. Lowell's book on “The Government of England." Miss Jane A. Harrison describes with enthusiasm Mr. Frazer's researches into the Origin of Kingship, which he discovers not in the strength of the soldier, but in the magic power of the medicine-man :-"The king is the head medicine-man, and-delightful thought-the regalia are his fetiches, his conjuring apparatus, his wonderworking talismans, the possession of which carries with it the right to the throne. Here really it is the regalia who reign, and the princes who merely represent them." Mr. Filson Young eulogises John Davidson as the originator of "The New Poetry." The Editor contributes a pathetic thought-stirring poem entitled “Ransom.”

THE STRAND.

THE Strand Magazine contains an article by Mr. Edward Whymper upon " Mountaineering Tragedies," a small selection of the very best known instances being taken. The tragedies described occurred mostly upon the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. The famous Meije accident is not mentioned; but the article is short, and much space is occupied by illustrations. From Mr. Whymper's account of the Matterhorn accident, where Lord Francis Douglas and the famous guide, Michel Croz, lost their lives, it is evident that he thinks the catastrophe was due to one incompetent person having been taken.

Mr. G. R. Sims continues his reminiscences. One letter reached him safely which was simply addressed to "Dagonet "-his well-known Referee pseudonym. Nothing else, no locality given.

Another article is a description of how the late Victorien Sardou wrote his plays. A play usually took him three or four months, and he always wrote at Marly-le-Roi, not very far from Paris, writing all the morning, and receiving no one till after three in the afternoon, when his work for the day was over.

THE Sunday Strand, which begins the New Year very well, publishes the first of a series of papers dealing with the great Municipal Libraries of England. The Manchester libraries are selected, for the opening paper, the most interesting part of which is the talk with the chief librarian of the Free Reference Library. His statements as to the results of popular education are pessimistic. He thinks public taste has greatly deteriorated, and that people are less able to read continuously-the effect, of course, of "snippety" publications.

THE NATIONAL REVIEW. MR. MAXSE, of all men in the world, now sheds tears of compassion over the Kaiser-surely the last drop in the cup of Imperial misfortune. In the National Review for January he informs his nominal leaders that when they next return to office they must only have a Cabinet of twelve, and he is good enough to nominate seven of the future colleagues of Mr. Balfour and Lord Lansdowne. Only three seats are thus left vacant. The Maxsean Ministers are Lord Milner, Lord Curzon, Lord Newton, Lord Percy, Mr. Bonar Law, Sir Edward Carson, and Mr. Hewins!

Sir F. Younghusband, who has just made a rapid run across Europe to Constantinople and the Levant, reports that "On the spot the general opinion among men in the street is that, with so much loose powder lying about, war in the spring is almost a probability."

Mr. Herbert W. Horwill, in an entertaining article on the provincialism of the Americans, says that megalomania has generated myopia. The American "forgets that the real advantage of being untrammelled by the past is largely forfeited when one is content to remain untaught by it also."

Miss Simkins makes public`moan over the Suffragettes. She says that she

is a woman worker who has endeavoured to the best of her ability to combine first teaching and then historical research with housekeeping. A twenty years' experience of steady work has led her to the conclusion that it will be a cruelty to impose on women of her class the triple burden of wage-earning, housekeeping, and political responsibility.

Poor thing! why does she burden herself with historical research? It probably takes more out of her than voting once in six years at a General Election.

Sir W. R. Anson repeats his objection to the Irish University Act:

Opposition has been bought off by money and by concessions, but the result of the whole transaction disappointing. The College at Cork may at no distant date develop into an independent University. The College at Galway may possibly prove more attractive henceforth to the Roman Catholic laity in its neighbourhood. But the future of the University and College at Dublin is compromised by their subordination to a theological seminary, and if Mr. Birrell's achievement is to be recorded in a monument the site of that monument should be Maynooth.

The Lady's Realm.

THE Lady's Realm for January is even lighter than the Christmas Number. The chief article--and that is very short-deals with Mlle. Miropolsky, the girl advocate, who has been pleading with such success in Paris, and who, judging from her portrait, has an exceedingly charming face, with much character in it. She is only twenty-one now, it seems, and certainly the French barrister's cap or toque is remarkably becoming to her. It is, so far, chiefly if not entirely women's causes which she has pleaded, and she seems always to have been victorious in her plea that the quality of mercy should not be strained.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. THE January number is full of varied matter, generally dealing with current political topics.

THE CENTENARY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19th, 1809, and Mr. Lewis Melville gives a centenary appreciation. He says, "The supreme example of his muse is 'Annabel Lee,' with its spirituality, its pathos, and its tenderness wonderfully brought out through the simplicity of the style and the exquisite music and the haunting strains of the verse." He further remarks that "with Poe literature was a religion, and as such to be treated with the greatest respect. He never forced his gift, even when he was in dire penury."

WANTED, A RAILWAY TO INDIA.

Mr. C. E. D. Black takes occasion from the completion of the pilgrim railway to Medina to urge that a select Committee should be appointed to examine into the project of a railway from Port Said across the neck of Arabia to Basra, at the head of the Persian Gulf, and thence to Nushki and Quetta, in India. This route to India from Port Said would be only 2,200 miles, as against the sea route to Bombay of 3,050 miles, or 2 days against 9 days. Reckoning the cost of construction at £6,000, with three millions for rolling stock, the writer reckons the total cost would be 16,200,000, considerably less than the cost of the Suez Canal.

THE SCARE OF INVASION.

Two papers make out that this Island is in a sadly undefended condition. Major-General F. S. Russell backs up Lord Roberts's contention, and urges that though universal compulsory service for home defence cannot now be expected from the public, universal military training for all our youths should be adopted. He also presses for a naval canal from the Forth to the Clyde, which would be a "bolt-hole" for our ships at Rosyth.

Earl Erroll expatiates on our military weakness, and declares that instead of 90,000 additional men being provided by Mr. Haldane, we really have 80,000 men and 3,000 officers less to draw upon than we had three years ago. Lady Paget contributes entertaining reminiscences of the Court of Berlin in the fifties.

THE two principal articles in the Woman at Home are chatty papers, of the ever popular order, upon Mr. and Mrs. Jerome at home in their country house at Wallingford, and upon Sir Frederick Bridge, who seems, judging from the account given of him, to be an inveterate punster. None of the instances of his wit, however, are quite good enough to quote. Mr. Jerome, it is not surprising to learn, is rather a silent man by nature, and keenly observant. He sometimes says that he has been everything except a bank clerk. His views on American women are quoted, showing that he is less severe upon them than some other critics, notably some feminine critics, have been.

THE ITALIAN REVIEWS. THE Rassegna Nazionale (December) contains a number of very readable articles. There is an extremely important summary of British and Italian. commercial returns, repeating the familiar tale of how English imports are being driven out by German. Already, within the last few years, England has dropped to the second place, and this although the great bulk of her imports consist of coal, iron and other raw material. In manufactured goods she is not only far behind Germany, but has dangerous rivals in France and Austria and even in Belgium and Switzerland. German manufacturers visit Italy, study its needs with their own eyes, organise banking facilities, and arrange to carry on their correspondence with Italy in Italian. English manufacturers, as a rule, do none of these things, and they are further handicapped by high wages, and by our system of weights and measures.

The distinguished author, G. Grabinski, who has always been known as a liberal Catholic, protests against the Lega Democratica Nazionale-a society of hot-headed young Catholics, founded by Don Romolo Murri-adopting a professedly anti-clerical programme, as that, in his opinion, leads rapidly to opposing everything promoted by ecclesiastical authority. He advocates a policy of moderation, and points out the incompatibility between Socialism and Catholicism. Dr. Franceschi urges the need of greater cleanliness and better ventilation in churches, and exposes the special bacteria dangers that lurk in confessionals and in the use of holy water unless special antiseptic precautions are taken. He recommends a course of simple but up-to-date hygiene for all seminarists. Barbara Wick Allason contributes a charming biographical sketch of a German poetess of last century, Luisa Hensel, a pathetic and romantic figure, the friend of Brentano, and a convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism.

In the Nuova Antologia, Maggiorino Ferraris continues his energetic campaign for building a vast new residential quarter for Rome on the Piazza d'Armi, and shows a variety of plans. Rome, it seems, already has a deficiency of 20,000 rooms; therefore to provide 100,000 rooms, as is suggested, is scarcely in excess of immediate needs, allowing for the present rapid growth of population. Ferraris believes that the whole scheme could be undertaken by co-operative building societies on a sound financial basis, if only the Government and Municipality would grant reasonable facilities, and he quotes with approval the example of Genoa, where some 4,000 rooms have been erected within a few years by a single building society.

The learned quarterly, Rivista di Scienza, continues to supply weighty articles in four languages. The new number leads off with a fifty-page summary in Italian of scientific thought in the nineteenth century; Professor Meillet writes in French on the development of language; F. le Dantec discusses the trans

mission of acquired characters, and J. Bonar, of Ottawa, exposes in English a Protectionist fallacy concerning Home and Foreign trade. There is also a laudatory review of Professor A. Thomson's recent work on Heredity.

The Civiltà Cattolica in honour of the recent Papal jubilee summarises the various activities of Pius X. during the five years of his pontificate. The Modernist controversy has so overshadowed other matters that it is as well to remind the outside world that the reigning Pontiff, whom his detractors speak of as an ignorant peasant, has reformed Church music throughout the Catholic world, has inaugurated the much-needed codification of canon law, and has thoroughly reorganised the Roman Congregations.

La Lettura has a pleasantly gossipy article on the abbey churches of Yorkshire by an Italian tourist, together with the now familiar complaints of the discomfort of English beds and bedrooms.

The most interesting literary article in the Rassegna Contemporanea describes in detail the unedifying relations between Sainte-Beuve, Victor Hugo, and Madame Hugo.

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.

Blackwood's opens with a paper upon the Young Turks, which, being professedly historical, does not contain much that is particularly new; but it puts the story of their rise in such a clear way that it gives a much better idea of the movement than some other articles on the subject. The writer remarks that it is credibly stated that in the last decade no fewer than 30,000 educated Turks have fled the country or been banished. Abdul Hamid he regards as essentially a coward. As for the Young Turks, though at first few, if any, persons realised their vitality and importance, he says their Committee is probably the most remarkable directing board the world has ever seen. It is absolutely impersonal, having no leader, no group of leaders, party or faction. In the Young Turks' campaign of propaganda two things are chiefly remarkable the rapidity with which it made ground, and the secrecy of its growth. So secret was the movement indeed that the Yildiz Palace spies themselves did not find out what was going on, and it " quite upset the calculations of all Europeans who were intimately connected with Turkey."

The Duke of the Abruzzi's book on Ruwenzori is very well reviewed, notice being taken also of all former attempts upon the Mountains of the Moon, beginning with Mr. Freshfield's in 1905, which failed because of the appallingly bad weather encountered. Ruwenzori, says the writer, is not so much a climber's as a traveller's problem; it is not so very difficult when one is there, but the thing is to get there. Some of the Alpine flowers on its lower slopes-the lobelias and helichrysums-must be lovely indeed.

There is an interesting travel paper also upon "Tiflis to Constantinople, via the Black Sea Ports."

THE DUTCH REVIEWS. Vragen des Tijds publishes an essay on the Comparative Value of a Yearly Budget and the practice n some countries of a financial discussion every two years. In the latter case the Ministers are spared the wear and tear of the work of getting a Budget through Parliament every twelve months; the legislative body has a rest and can devote all its time every alternate year to the passing of beneficial measures, although it has occasionally to vote supplementary estimates. On the other hand, the annual Budget is regarded as a distinct advantage for the country.

A readable account of a journey in Norway, in De Gids, commences with a comparison of Swedish and Norwegian circumstances. On crossing the frontier one is struck by the difference in the train service and comforts; the Swedish trains are quick, there is a very good dining-car, and the carriages are pleasant to ride in, but the Norwegian are slow, the restaurant car is not at all on a level with those over the border, and the carriages are not conducive to easy travelling.

There is the inevitable contribution on national defence and what ought to be done; the navy should be able to protect the seaboard, while the army should be strong enough to preserve the neutrality of Holland and to keep out possible invaders. The fortresses want attention; Amsterdam must be well fortified; but one must not overlook the fact that there are other parts of the kingdom that need strengthening. There is a sketch of the rule of Count Floris V. from 1256 to 1296. These Dutch Counts were practically vassals of England for a long period; a predecessor of Floris V. paid homage to King John, and Floris himself sent an uncle to London in 1257, shortly after his accession, to pay homage by proxy. Floris V. assisted Edward I. in various ways, and in 1281 his daughter was married to a son of Edward at Westminster. In another part of De Gids is an article on "Darwinism v. Wallaceism."

Onze Eeuw also appears with a military contribution; the Dutch are exercised in mind about their aimy and navy, for we find articles on those subjects every month. The training of cadets is dealt with this month; the writer suggests new methods which may not be viewed with favour by the officers, for the training on his lines would be "stiff." The history of

the small Sultanate of Boeton is traced in another article; it is to be found in the south-east of Celebes, and promises to be a profitable colony if the Dutch take care of it.

The illustrations to the sketch of a journey through the island of Bali, in Elsevier, are quaint enough to command the attention of the reader, quite apart from the text, which is well worthy of perusal. This contribution is followed by an account of the work of a Dutch artist, Marie de Roode-Heijermans, with reproductions of her pictures. Next comes a description of a church at Breda. Finally, "Nature Photography" shows us various nests in queer places and the like.

THE SPANISH REVIEWS. RAILWAY development in Spain, according to a writer in Nuestro Tiempo, is arrested by reason of the conditions upon which the lines (or some of them) were originally constructed. The State granted a concession for ninety-nine years, and the stipulation was made that when the fixed period had expired the lines should be handed over to the State without payment. The concession also stipulated that the lines, with a certain quantity of rolling-stock and certain buildings, should become the property of the State. The owners of the lines have made various extensions and have constructed other, or better, buildings than those mentioned in the agreement, but as the period has run more than half its length, the owners are thinking that it is not worth while to spend more of their meagre profits in improvements for which they will receive no return. Thus, it is well known that the station at Barcelona is inadequate, but there is no inclination to build another. This condition of affairs means that the development of the country is also gravely affected.

España Moderna gives an account of the cession of the two Floridas by Spain to the United States one hundred years ago. This is another article in which we can detect the idea that Spain has been "squeezed" by the United States of North America, as the Spaniards are often particular to designate the great Republic. In 1809, we read, the Americans began openly to injure Spain, when they refused to recognise Onis, sent as plenipotentiary; then, taking advantage of the conditions existing in the Peninsula,

the President ordered that possession should be taken of Western Florida, on the ground that it was an integral part of Louisiana, but adding that the United States would hold it subject to friendly negotiation. Piracy against Spanish commerce was openly practised in the following years; France did not help Spain, and the States refused the mediation of England, so it was ultimately decided that Spain should give up the Floridas for fear of forcing hostilities for which she was not prepared. Spain owed a debt, which was increasing every year, so Onis counselled making an arrangement whereby Spain would at least reap some advantage from the cession of the Floridas, pointing

out that she might otherwise have to cede them later on and pay the debt also, if she declined the proposal then made.

La Lectura has a long article on curious historical and other facts of the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. For instance, it was always customary to go to Mass before breakfast, and there is a legend of one of the Alfonsos that he met three angels in disguise while on his return from Mass, and on their asking him for work, he commanded a magnificent gold and bejewelled cross to be made. He sat down to breakfast and the cross was brought to him, quite finished, as he rose from the table. That was a miracle which revealed the identity of the three men.

BOOKS

MONTH.

L

I. A FOUR-SENSE WORLD.

ET us suppose that all the children of men were born with closed eyes, and that the whole race lived and died without ever being able to raise an eyelid. Men would under these conditions have lived in a four-sense world. The classic instance of Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, shows that existence is possible even for those who live in a three-sense world. Mankind would have adapted itself to its conditions. Smell, touch, taste and hearing would have enabled them to evolve some kind of a civilisation, even though they lived in the perpetual darkness of those on whose optic nerve the light rays never fall.

Suppose, further, that somehow, somewhere, somewhen, among the myriad dwellers on this planet, one man or woman at intervals of a generation, of a century, or of a millennium contrived to raise their eyelids and see. In a moment there would swim upon their ken not one lambent planet, but all the heretofore unimaginable glories of the stellar universe. They would see for the first time "these forms of beauty which had been to them "as is a landscape to a blind man's eye." They would feel—

But when they attempted to explain these glories to their fellows with the lid-closed eyes, they would find themselves utterly unable to describe what they had seen, for the language of a four-sense world would afford no terms in which to set forth the contents of the "mighty world of Eye." Colour, for instance, and light, the spacious firmament, the sun, the moon, the vast and ever-changing panorama of the clouds-how could they describe them to men

1.*" The Maid of France," by Andrew Lang. 378 pp. Longman. (Illus.)

12s. 6d 2. "Assisi of St. Francis," by Mrs. Robert Goff. Illustrated in colours by Colonel Goff. 290 pp. 20S. Chatto and Windus. "Nietzsche, His Life and Work," by M. A. Mügge. 442 pp. Fisher Unwin.

10s.

25. W.

3.

4.

"The Wisdom of Plotinus," by C. T. Whitby. 131 pp. Rider and Son.

5.

"Plotinas on the Beautiful." Sixth Treatise of the First Ennead. Translated by Stephen Mackenna. 2s. 6d. Press, Stratford-on-Avon.

Shakespeare Head

race.

who could hear, touch, taste and smell, but who could not see? If they made the attempt they would expose themselves to ridicule always, to persecution often. For they would deny that the world was dark, or that the surface of the earth was the entire universe. They would proclaim the discovery of a new world, radiant and glorious, sublime and infinite beyond the loftiest imaginings of the closed-eyed But if asked where it was, they could only declare that it was all around them. Not another world, but the same world, revealed in a new and "Where is it," the scoffers entrancing aspect. would sneer, "this new world of which you speak? Can we hear it? Can we touch it? Can we smell it? Can we taste it? You admit that we can do none of these things. Then how can you expect us to believe that it exists? Verily all the laws of most sacred science, and all the canons of our religion compel us to proclaim you as an impudent liar or a poor deluded lunatic, if indeed we ought not to put you to death as an impious blasphemer!"

But

Yet all the while these arrogant sciolists of the four-sense world would be warmed by the rays of the sun whose existence they denied, and would be spending their lives among the flowers whose fragrance they enjoyed but whose gorgeous colours they could not understand. Hence the Man of the Open Eye would in self-defence hold his peace. the knowledge which his vision gave him would enable him to understand many things hidden from his fellows. He would be able to run where they felt their way, and he would be able to see the goal He clearly towards which they groped and fumbled. would be able to lay down straight paths on land, and to chart the unfathomed seas. To him, as the seer, would be given the faculty of perceiving the working of law, where his four-sensed fellows had blundered up against an utterly incomprehensible confusion. His sayings would become the guidebook of generations, the Book of the Law which all wise men would obey. If he escaped with his life from the Conservatives who revolted against his topsy-turvy notions, the probability is that in days to come he would be worshipped as a god.

All that is obvious enough. What is not less obvious to the reflecting mind is that just as the Man with the Open Eye must of necessity have been deemed a madman or a liar at first by those men who could not open their eyelids, and afterwards would have been accorded divine honours by those who profited by the application to the four-sense world of the wisdom which lies open to those who possessed the fifth sense, so in the history of the world those who possess