it is they who have it in their power to torture, from the British point of view, a supposed criminal into acknowledging the crime of which he is accused. It is an old joke that in France a young man who was passing his Bar examination was asked, "Who holds the greatest position in France?" Instead of naming the President of the Republic, he stammered out, "The juge d'instruction," and the youth was not SO far wrong, for everything short of physical torture is within his power. On a simple written order of the juge d'instruction, the French citizen's house can be broken into, his letters read, his servants questioned, nay, even his family grave opened. It is curious to note that the anonymous writer of this article considers that the French Magistracy have two powerful enemies, namely, the press and the political world; and certainly a section of the Paris press does not love the French Bench, and seldom mentions it without some unpleasing epithet. These attacks, which really mean very little, are answered on the part of those whom they seek to injure by the most absolute silence. As for the political world, those composing it or touching on it have too often had to appear before the juge d'instruction to wish him much good, and it will be interesting to see if these two all-powerful and venal sections of the French world of to-day will carry out their openly-expressed intention of abolishing one of the oldest and most worthy of French institutions, for on the whole la magistrature is in every sense above reproach.

THE NOUVELLE REVUE.

THE October numbers of the Nouvelle Revue afford little material for criticism. We have noticed elsewhere an interesting paper on the monastery of Troitza. The first October number is almost entirely devoted to Russia, and the first article is a welcome and a salutation to the Tsar. The second article on steel weapons, by General Dragomirof, is of high technical interest. A touching sketch of two little children by Prince Serge Wolonsky is succeeded by a picture of a battle-field by M. de Mayer; and M. de Gourlof writes a severe article upon the supposed encroachments of the English in Spanish America. The two next papers on "Soul "-or "Seoul," as we call it-and the "Fair of Simbirsk " are experiences of travel. Mme. D'Engelhardt collects a number of Russian proverbs, some of them very telling. Mme. Adam contributes some reminiscences of the late Tsar Alexander III. The address of the editorial staff to Mme. Adam in the second October number is a fine commemoration of the nineteenth year of the Nouvelle Revue. The "Recollections of General Oudinot " are succeeded by a thoughtful paper of M. Raffaelli's on "Art under a Democracy." He tells us that in France in the year 1830 there were about three thousand painters, and the names of only ten can be said to have remained. There are now thirty thousand painters, of whom he does not believe that more than ten or fifteen names will survive. This paper will be found interesting. The story of the French Pope, John XXII., takes us back to the days of Petrarch. Journey to the Gorge du Loup" is a picturesque paper. Mme. Adam's letters on foreign politics are noticed elsewhere.

"A

PERHAPS no pocket diaries are more generally convenient than the "Back-Loop" ones issued by Messrs. John Walker and Co., of Warwick Lane. They are published in all sizes-from one suitable to the waistcoat pocket to one to contain letters.

THE REVUE DES DEUX MONDES. WE have noticed elsewhere M. Leroy Beaulieu's article on the Tsar's tour in the first October number of the Revue, and Vicomte d'Avenel's article on Workmen's Wages in France.

M. Goyau continues in the first October number his articles on Protestantism in Germany. He tells the curious story of the attack by Harnack on the Prussiau Liturgy in 1892 The Emperor William II. when he opened, after restoration, Luther's famous church at Wittenberg in 1892, made a declaration obviously aimed at the heresies of Harnack, and the Prussian Church soon afterwards issued a circular, in which of course they supported the Emperor.

Other articles in the number are, one on Algeria in 1896," by M. de Varigny, in which we see the justifiable pride of the patriotic Frenchman in the fine colony of which his country has become possessed; and an article by M. Michel, of the Academy of Fine Arts, on the "Masters of the Symphony "-Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. To the second October number, M. d'Haussonville contributes the regulation article which as a matter of course appeared in so many periodicals at the time of the Tsar's visit to France-namely, one on the previous visit of Peter the Great in 1717.

M. Brunetière, another well-known Academician, contributes a specimen of the kind of philosophical article which Frenchmen love on "The Bases of Belief." It is interesting to note that he refers more than once to Mr. Balfour's book on "The Foundations of Belief," which appeared last year, and to Mr. Benjamin Kidd's "Social Evolution."

Other articles in the number include one by M. Bellessort on the saltpetre works of Iquique, forming one of a series of articles of travel in Chili and Bolivia. M. Bellessort's account of the Peruvian women is very flattering.

THE ART MAGAZINES.

LIFE AND WORK OF MR. MARCUS STONE. THE Christmas number of the Art Journal, the Art Annual, is devoted to the Life and Work of Mr. Marcus Stone. Those who know the style of subject for which Mr. Stone is now famous will be surprised to hear that the artist has already gone through several phases. Mr. Alfred Lys Baldry writes in the Annual:

What first attracted Mr. Stone was a species of military genre, and later he turned to historical subjects treated in a somewhat free and unconventional manner. Sentiment, too, occupied him largely at one time, and he painted several pictures in which the motive was the telling of a pathetic story, or the representing of an emotional moment which gave opportunity for dramatic grouping and arrangement.

Referring to Mr. Stone's well-known style, the article

continues:

His pictures are popular because they unite daintiness of sentiment with attractiveness of setting and arrangement. They are painted not to appeal to any craving for sensationalism, but to present in as fascinating a form as possible those events in which all classes are interested because of their common possession of a certain range of human emotions.

Mr. Baldry gives an interesting account of Mr. Stone's career, notes on his pictures and his methods, and a list of his works. There are four full-page plates, a photogravure of " A Prior Attachment" being the frontispiece. Edward II. and Piers Gaveston" is a fine line engraving.

6.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS.

To the art world the most important event of the month has been the Arts and Crafts Exhibition at the New Gallery, and there are several interesting notices of it. One of the most important articles in the Studio (October) is the first notice of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition, with illustrations of the work of Mr. C. Harrison Townsend and Mr. Walter Crane. The October number of the Artist is an Arts and Crafts number. Mr. Aymer Vallance writes on Mr. William Morris, while Mabel Cox devotes over thirty pages to the Exhibition, also fully illustrated.

Mr. Lewis Day, writing in the Art Journal (November), thinks such an exhibition keeps alive some care for the artistic side of making, while the identity of the actual makers of the things beautiful may be more conducive to originality of design and conscientious workmanship. The critic in the November Magazine of Art (Mr. Lewis Day?) says the Exhibition is not only better artistically, but is saner æsthetically than those of previous years, and the workers' productions are more closely in harmony with the cultivated taste of the true lover of art.

There are several other articles in the art magazines on various Arts and Crafts not in relation to the New Gallery Exhibition. In the Studio, it is Continental Bookbindings, by Mr. A. J. Meier-Graefe; in the Art Journal, it is Gold, Silver, and Coppersmiths, by Mr. F. Miller; in the Magazine of Art, it is the Dellia Robbia Pottery Industry; Art and Electricity, by R. Jope-Slade; and Stencilled Stuffs by Mr. Lewis Day. Of course almost every article in these magazines is beautifully illustrated.

With the November number the Magazine of Art begins a new volume in an enlarged forin. The extra pages are to be devoted to the Art Movement of the Day, decorative art in all its most recent developments. In the current number we note, in addition to the articles referred to, a very interesting notice of the career of Mr. Laurence Alma Tadema by Mr. Spielmann. A new feature is "Notes and Queries.' Through this page readers may obtain information on all matter relating to artistic history, biography, technique, methods and processes, copyright law, etc.

Architecture continues the excellent illustrated papers on the cathedrals, and Winchester is begun in the October number. The same number also contains articles on Vézelay, by Mr. J. Coates Carter; Modern English Ironwork, by Mr. H. Longden; and the Wye and Severn, by Mr. C. G. Harper. These, too, are well illustrated.

THE ITALIAN REVIEWS.

IT is not often that Italian ladies contribute to the Italian magazines, but the Rassegna Nazionale (October 1st) opens its pages this month to an eloquent appeal from the pen of Signora G. Rottigni-Marsilli on behalf of the destitute and suffering childhood of her country. It is an article which, for passionate pleading, backed up by undeniable facts, might have sprung from the pen of Mr. Benjamin Waugh himself. Juvenile depravity, juvenile crime, and juvenile destitution are, according to our authoress, rampant not only in many overcrowded city courts, but also among the scattered rural population. The annual death-rate for legitimate children under one year in Italy is 190 per 1,000, and for illegitimate 294 per 1,000-a proportion that speaks for itself, though it is only fair to add that the figures for France and Austria are

even worse. Again, the number of criminals who fall each year into the clutches of the law varies from 5,000 to 6,000, and of these it is calculated hardly any are reformed. Signora Marsilli writes of homes in which the children are "ignorant of everything that they ought to know, and are familiar with everything of which they should know nothing." Her description reaches a climax over the child-workers in the Sicilian sulphurmines-boys of eight and ten, unrestrained by any factory act, who, without even a shirt on their backs, run along the narrow passages of the mines and up the steep gradients to the pit's mouth bearing heavy sacks of sulphur on their shoulders, and who make their dinner off bits of black bread which they dip in the stinking oil of the little hand-lamps that light them through the darkness. Verily, as the authoress says, there is room in Italy for a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children similar to our own. Much, she admits, has been done by private charity, but much more needs to be done if Italy is to take her rightful place among the humane nations of Europe.

The Nuova Antologia (October 1st) publishes the first of what promises to be an exceedingly interesting series of articles from the pen of L. Mariani on The Kingdom of Minos," sympathy with the Cretans being very keen in Italy just now, partly owing to a fellow-feeling, with all rebels against foreign tyranny, and partly from the fact that for four and a half centuries Crete was actually part of Italy, being one of the possessions of the Republic of Venice. This first article gives an historical account of the island, and especially of the successive revolts by which since 1821 the Christian inhabitants have wrung certain reforms out of their Turkish rulers, the most important being of course the celebrated Halepa Convention of 1878, since revoked. The author maintains that the Cretans have proved themselves in every way worthy of liberty, and concludes: "Crete will always remain an open sore, a cause of trouble to herself and to Europe, as long as she remains under the disgraceful dominion of the Turks."

The mid-October number opens with an Ode of Welcome to Princess Hélène of Montenegro, the first royal bride destined to wear the crown of United Italy, and it contains further, à propos of the royal wedding, an appreciative article by D. Ciampoli on the folk-lore and love-songs or "pjesme" of Montenegro, which are sung by the Montenegrin women to a mandoline accompaniment. These pjesme are described as possessed of an exquisite imitative harmony and great wealth of rhythm; concise, plastic, tender, the verses flow like pure water, and are clear cut like a virgin profile." In all Slav songs marriage plays a great part, and the inspiration is half Pagan, half Christian. Judging even from the prose-translated specimens included in the article the Montenegrin songs seem inspired by a passionate and poetic imagination, not without a tinge of sadness, and an Eastern wealth of colour and imagery which should render them a fascinating subject of study.

We have received copies for the first half-year of its existence of Bessarione, a new Italian and Catholic magazine started in the interests of ecclesiastical unity between the Latin and Greek Churches. The name is taken from the celebrated Cardinal Bessarione, Archbishop of Nicæa, who laboured in the cause of unity in the fifteenth century. The periodical is well printed and well got up, and contains up-to-date information on learned questions of the day. The October number gives the various Eastern and Western versions of the wellknown pious legend of the Seven Sleepers.

SOME ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINES.

The Ludgate.

THE most useful article in the Ludgate for November is Mr. J. E. Archibald's well illustrated paper on Belfast. Frederick Dolman describes some London Ladies' Clubs. There is a short illustrated account of the American Presidential Campaign. The portraits of the two candidates show a remarkable resemblance. Miss Olga Nethersole describes her first appearance, and there is another theatrical paper entitled "Stars that have Set." Mr. Wood's series of papers on Regimental Journals is continued.

Pall Mall Magazine.

THE Pall Mall Magazine for November is a very good number. The most striking paper-Mr. Schooling's graphic setting of marriage statistics-demands separate notice. A serial begins by the late R. L. Stevenson, entitled "St. Ives: the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England." H. A. Vachell gives a vivid sketch of the Italian colony of organ-grinders, ice-cream vendors and the like near Hatton Garden, and bewails "the passing of the Organari." They are, it appears, being elbowed out by more aggressive British rivals. Twenty years hence the organari of London will be as extinct as the dodo or great auk. We shall have lost a soft skein of vivid colour." Sir E. F. du Cane contributes a straightforward business-like account of Italian prisons. Life at the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, is portrayed by Lieutenant Commander J. Kelley (U. S. Navy). The number of cadets are limited by law to one cadet from each congressional district, and eleven appointed by the President. General Sir Hugh Gough continues his memories of the Indian Mutiny. Stoneleigh in Warwickshire is the topographical paper, by the Honourable Mary C. Leigh. The illustrations are as usual distinguished, and well executed. The frontispiece is a reproduction of Rembrandt's portrait of himself.

The Strand.

ITs tradition of variety and freshness and surprise is kept up in the Strand for October. About the big telescopes of the world Mr. W. G. Fitzgerald tells a great deal in his illustrated interview with Sir Howard Grubb, of the Dublin astronomical works. The Lick telescope is fixed on Mount Hamilton 4,200 ft. above sea level, is 57 ft. long, weighs 40 tons, and has an object-glass 36 in. in diameter. C. T. Yerkes, of Chicago notoriety, eager only to "lick the Lick," has caused to be made a tube 64 ft. long, weighing 75 tons, with an objectglass 40 in. in diameter. Sir Howard designs as the telescope of the future a floating reflector, with tube 80 ft., and a 10 ft. mirror 1 ft. thick, 100 tons in weight, taking three to five years and £33,000 to construct it. The record of heroism this month is supplied by sailors who have won the Victoria Cross. Mr. F. Steelcroft recounts the exploits of big_gamehunters-Sir Robert Harvey, Mr. and Mrs. Turner-Turner, Mr. T. W. Greenfield, Sir Wm. Gordon Cumming, and Captain George Campbell. Sketches of Leaders of the Bar follow on the recently concluded series of judges, Sir Richard Webster, Sir R. B. Finlay, Sir Edward Clarke, Sir Robert Reid, Sir Frank Lockwood, Mr. J. F. Oswald, Mr. W. Bowen Rowlands, and Mr. Francis Williams being the barristers selected for portraiture. "Idols" come in for some quaint notice. "Nose Improvers" claim other notice.

Cassell's Family Magazine. Cassell's Family Magazine announces several changes to be commenced with the December number. In future the magazine will consist of one hundred and twelve pages instead of eighty pages as hitherto. All the old features are to be retained, and the extra space devoted to fiction and popular articles. In the December number Flora Annie Steel will commence a story entitled "The Gift of the Gods," a romance of the West of Scotland. A series of papers on the lives and homes of Continental womanhood will be begun, and a description of the Princess of Wales' horses will be the first instalment of a set of papers under the title "My Horses." The first paper in the November number is entitled, "Punch and Cousin Jonathan." In it Mr. M. H. Spielmann describes the view taken by the English comic press of their kinsfolk across the sea. The article is illustrated by the reproductions of several cartoons from Punch. It is a curious illustration of the rapid growth in importance of the New World. Mary S. Warren has an instructive paper on "Porcelain: How it is made."

McClure's Magazine."

MRS. ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS's new creed is noticed elsewhere. There is a splendidly illustrated article on the Daguerreotype in America, by Mrs. D. T. Davis. The daguerreotypes of Garibaldi, Daniel Webster, and Fenimore Cooper are especially interesting. Another well illustrated article is E. M. McKenna's account of the home and pictures of Alma-Tadema. An interesting paper is that giving an account of railroading in the Rockies. The story of Lincoln's nomination in 1860 is told at length, and Rudyard Kipling commences his new story, "Captains Courageous." The rest of the magazine is devoted to fiction.

The Woman at Home.

APART from the always prominent fiction, the chief attraction of the Woman at Home for October is Sarah Tooley's character sketch of Marie Corelli. It is explained that this is no pseudonym, but the real name of the novelist. She comes of Italian blood, but was adopted in her infancy by Dr. Chas. Mackay, writer of Cheer, Boys, Cheer." She was brought up by private governesses in great seclusion. She was intended for the musical profession and sent to a convent in France to finish. Her health broke down and the great crisis of her inner life came. She returned home and wrote her first story, "The Romance of Two Worlds." Published in 1885, it became a success from the first. From the late Lord Tennyson she has received a complimentary note. The Prince of Wales is said to have written her about "The Sorrows of Satan." She is still a Republican. Religious, she is no spiritualist. "Her belief in the supernatural is founded," she asserts," upon the teaching of Christ alone." statement is made that "Miss Corelli has never had her portrait taken," and "nothing will induce her to give her picture to the public." Her figure, though small, is described as "perfectly and daintily proportioned," and full of vitality. Her residence is Dr. Mackay's house in Longridge Road, Kensington. She dislikes Society functions. "Her chief characteristics are intense pride and independence." The other personal sketch is that of the Duke of Devonshire by "a Parliamentary Hand," who suits his style to his subject and writes plain common-sense. The views of Chatsworth are the principal features of interest.

The

"THE HISTORY OF THE MYSTERY." THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS ANNUAL is well advanced

Tand will be ready for publication at the begin

ning of December. The form of a fictitious narrative in which I have embodied the story of "The Skeleton in Blastus's Cupboard" facilitates the presentation of the stirring facts of the Conspiracy, Revolution and Invasion in South Africa in their true perspective. How faithfully the story is told, with what scrupulous adherence to the actual facts, will not appear until the evidence of the leading actors in this tragic drama, from Mr. Chamberlain downwards, is taken by the Select Committee which he has appointed. If I cannot say that I have nothing extenuated, I can honestly affirm that I have nought set down in malice, and there is probably no reader who will be more surprised at the spirit and motif of this Christmas story than Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. But the tale is true to its motto: "Tout savoir c'est tout pardonner."

66

"HYMNS THAT HAVE HELPED." At last I have got out my Hymns that Have Helped" in a double number of the "Penny Poets." It is described in the titlepage as "a collection of those hymns, whether Jewish, Christian, or Pagan, which have been found most useful to the children of men in six languages, viz., English, Welsh, Latin, German, French, and Italian." The collection is certainly Catholic in the widest sense, including as it does Garibaldi's Revolutionary Hymn, the "Marseillaise," the "Te Deum," "Stabat Mater," down to "Dare to be a Daniel" and Carlyle's Morning Hymn. There are about one hundred and fifty hymns altogether. The Latin hymns are accompanied by an English translation, and in every case wherever possible an account is given as to where the hymn was written, and in what way experience had proved it helpful either to individuals or to communities. The Rev. Dr. George Matheson, writing from Edinburgh, says:―

I thank you very much for having sent me this collection of hymns, and I feel myself honoured in having one of mine numbered amongst them. Keeping my own out of the question, it is a truly admirable selection-a volume which should go further to cement the bond of Christendom than all the creeds and confessions that ever were formulated.

The collection is certainly unique, and although one hundred and fifty hymns may seem to be a very small sample of the half million nominally Christian hymns which are in existence in two hundred different languages, the compilation will be found to cover a very wide field. The only rule that has been observed is that no hymn shall be excluded for metrical deficiencies or theological heresies, so be it is known to have been helpful to men.

"WAKE UP, JOHN BULL."

This pamphlet is the reprint of special articles which appeared in the REVIEW OF REVIEWS. The first is a summary and analysis of Mr. Williams' famous book "Made in Germany," which is now in its third edition, and which has directed so much attention to the menace of German competition. The second part contains the summary of the Report of the Recess Committee in Ireland, which indicates the methods by which other nations have succeeded in reviving their rural districts and arresting the decay of the agricultural interest. There are also included letters and speeches of Lord

Salisbury, Lord Rosebery, Mr. Asquith, Lord Spencer, and many other statesmen and public men. This "Wake Up, John Bull," is No. 4 of "Papers for the People." For those who take an intelligent interest in the maintenance of our industrial ascendency, or the arrest of the ruin which is threatening our country districts, this pamphlet, which contains the gist of two solid volumes, will be very acceptable. It will be found very useful for distribution as a local tract in districts where it is proposed to form associations for the furtherance of education and the development of local resources.

RUSSIA AND ENGLAND; OR, PROPOSALS FOR A NEW DEPARTURE.

This sixpenny pamphlet by Madame Novikoff contains the letters which she addressed to the Times, the Daily News, and the Daily Chronicle since the Armenian question came to the front, together with a chapter which contains an interview with Prince Lobanoff concerning the relations between Russia and England, and the effect of these relations on the Cyprus Convention. To these letters are added a reprint of three chapters which Madame Novikoff published in 1878, advocating the establishment of an Anglo-Russian Alliance on the basis of the pacific liquidation of the Ottoman Empire. The pamphlet, to which I have prefixed a preface, is invaluable to any one who wishes to understand the Russian point of view. It will be sent post free for 6d.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

At the end of this month the new number of the Penny Poets" will be published, which will be devoted to Christmas Carols and the Christmas Masques or Mummers' plays that were performed of old time in north, south, and middle England. The one difficulty that has hitherto stood in the way of the revival of the excellent Christmas custom of the performance by companies of villagers of these Christmas plays, journeying from house to house, has been the difficulty of obtaining, in a cheap and handy form, the text of the plays. I do not know that any of those quoted can be used unaltered this year, but they may, and I hope will, serve as a suggestion of the lines on which some such acting pieces might be constructed, and will be available for general use another day.

"BOOKS FOR THE BAIRNS.

The penny illustrated edition, abridged, of the first part of the " Pilgrim's Progress " has been very warmly received. Next year I hope to follow it up by a similar edition of the second part. As the Christmas number of the "Books for the Bairns," I am issuing Miss Wetherell's "Christmas Stocking," which was the book that first introduced the excellent practice of Christmas Stockings into our household when I was a child-over forty years ago-and I sincerely hope it may be the means of bringing that excellent institution into many other homes this season. Parents who desire to obtain for their children the very cheapest Christmas present in the way of children's literature that is issued from the press, will find the sixpenny packet of the "Books for the Bairns" quite unequalled. Each packet, which is done up in a printed cover, contains six different numbers of the "Books for the Bairns," and contains nearly four hundred pages of reading matter, and between five and six hundred pictures. It can be ordered through any bookseller, or will be sent by post for 9d.