made a still more impassable gulf between herself and the Master whose precepts she has violated, all this is wrought out with a simple, impassioned intensity that is appallingly realistic. In the last act, Izeyl, sightless and tortured, dies in the arms of her lover, but not until she has exacted from him the confession that he loves her, not merely in the spiritual sense, but as a man. He confesses that her beauty had enthralled his senses, that he had been sorely tempted, but that his faith had conquered: He even prays her to live for him. But even in the rapture of that moment she passes away, happy in the belief that she will meet him again.

The Governor of Kentucky, a four-act comedy by Franklin Fyles, was produced at the Fifth Avenue theatre, New York city, January 21, by W. H. Crane.

In its general construction and incidents the play recalls the Senator. The following is a synopsis of the acts: ACT I.-Governor Lee of Kentucky is importuned by Mason Hix to accept a bribe for signing a railroad bill. Hix hands him a paper to which only his signature is needed to secure $25,000, which will be handed to Miss Esbrooke. The governor indignantly spurns him. ACT II.-Daniel Esbrooke is sorely tempted to forge the gov ernor's signature to the paper, which has come into his hands. He falls in a faint before he can carry out his design. Hix takes advantage of his condition to forge the signature. The money is received by Miss Esbrooke, who hands it to her father when he wakes. Dazed, he believes that he has committed the forgery. On his way home he is robbed of the money. He confesses his guilt. The governor, despite the pleadings of Jewel, whom he loves, orders his

arrest.

ACT III.-The governor has been elected United States senator. But he determines to save Jewel's father, and he announces his declination of all offices present and prospective.

ACT IV. Before the governor's resignation can be handed in, Mason Dix unmasks the villainy of Hix, who had not only committed the forgery but had waylaid and robbed the man upon whom he had fastened suspicion. Jewel confesses her love for the governor, and everything ends happily.

For the Crown is a rather gloomy tragedy, by François Coppée, translated by Charles Renauld, which was presented at Palmer's theatre, New York city, February 11.

ACT I.-Michel Brancomir, a Balkan hero, who had won many victories over the Moslem invaders, and who had hoped to become king, sees the crown pass to Bishop Etienne.

ACT II.-Princess Bazilide, the second wife, whom Michel has recently married, persuades him to listen to a Turkish spy and betray an important pass to the enemy. His son Constantin, warned by Militza, a dancing girl, discovers the plot.

ACT III.-Michel has stationed himself at the pass to prevent the lighting of the beacon that will give warning of the Turkish approach. Constantin appears, implores Michel to repent, and finding entreaties vain, kills him, and lights the beacon over his father's corpse.

ACT IV. The Balkans have suffered numerous defeats. They accuse Constantin of treachery. Princess Bazilide, thwarted in an

effort to seduce him from his loyalty, produces apparent proofs of his guilt. He is condemned to be chained to the base of his father's statue in the public square. Militza saves him from a lingering and shameful death by stabbing him and then herself.

A five-act drama entitled Michael and His Lost Angel, by Henry Arthur Jones, was produced simultaneously at the Lyceum theatre, London, Eng., and the Empire theatre, New York

city, January 15. The story recalls the model of Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.

On January 20 John Drew and his company presented, for the first time in America, a new fouract comedy, The Squire of Dames, from the French of Alexandre Dumas, adapted by R. C. Carton.

The plot deals to some extent with amatory intrigue, and teaches a moral lesson. The Squire of Dames is an experienced man of the world, who saves a married woman from folly.

A noteworthy American production in grand opera was presented at the Bos

ton theatre, Boston, Mass., February 10-The Scarlet Letter, by Walter Damrosch, libretto by George Parsons Lathrop, after Hawthorne's romance. The opera scored a distinct success.

Other productions in America were The Benefit of the Doubt, a three-act comedy by Arthur W. Pinero, at the Lyceum theatre, New York city, January 6; and Marriage, also a three-act comedy, by Brandon Thomas and Henry Keeling, at the Empire theatre, New York city, February 17.

The latest Gilbert-and-Sullivan opera, The Grand Duke, was produced at the Savoy theatre, London, Eng., March 7.

ARCHEOLOGY.

The American School at Athens.-A most important achievement stands to the record of Mr. Eugene P. Andrews, a student in the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece-namely, the deciphering of the ancient inscription which, in letters of bronze, was at one time attached to the east architrave of the Parthenon. All former attempts to decipher the inscription had been in vain. The letters had long ago disappeared: nothing but the holes for the spikes by which they were once attached to the marble was available to indicate what the characters were. However, after about three weeks' persistent work. begun in the middle of January, Mr. Andrews succeeded in obtaining paper impressions, or "squeezes," of the nail prints. As the east architrave stands isolated on its columns, and the nail prints are forty feet above the ground and inaccessible save as one is lowered from the blocks above, the task was one of special difficulty. The impressions furnished the clue to the reading of the inscription, for each letter required a certain number of holes for fastening, and the holes were similarly arranged on each occurrence of the same letter.

It was found that the inscription dated from the year 61 A. D., and was a decree in honor of the Roman emperor Nero, passed by "the senate of the Areopagus, the senate of the Six Hundred, and the Athenian people." Only two proper names remained to be deciphered at latest dispatches (February 26). The text of the inscription runs as follows:

Η ΕΞ ΑΡΕΙΟΥ ΠΑΓΟΥ ΒΟΥΛΗ ΚΑΙ Η ΒΟΥΛΗ ΤΩΝ Χ ΚΑΙ
Ο ΔΗΜΟΣ Ο ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΑ ΜΕΓΙΣΤΟΝ
ΝΕΡΩΝΑ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΑ ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΝ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΝ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΝ
ΘΕΟΥ ΥΙΟΝ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΥΝΤΟΣ ΕΠΙ ΤΟΥΣ ΟΠΛΙΤΑΣ ΤΟ
ΟΓΔΟΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΝΟΜΟΘΕΤΟΥ ΤΙ
ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΥ ΝΟΥΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΦΙΛΙΝΟΥ ΕΠΙ ΙΕΡΕΙΑΣ
(name of priestess) THE . . . (father's name) OrrATPOZ.

The Greek government has given to the American School at Athens the exclusive privilege of excavating on the site of the ancient city of Corinth-the most promising field still remaining in Greece for archæological research.

Babylonian Discoveries.-During the last few years the work of archæological exploration in Babylonia has been almost entirely confined to the labors of the American expedition, who have been engaged for several years in the systematic exploration of the great mound of Niffer, in central Babylonia, the site of the ancient city of Nipur,

and to the partially resumed work of M. de Sarzec at Tello, the ancient Lagash.

The discoveries made by these explorers have been of great importance, but they chiefly relate to the earliest days of the Chaldean empire, as far back as 4,000 years before the Christian era. Important as these discoveries are, as furnishing us with the material by which to study the dawn of civilization in Chaldea, there has always been a desire that we should obtain some inscribed records, possibly historical inscriptions, of the period of the New Babylonian empire (B. C. 606-538), especially of the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar II. and Nabonidus. With the exception of the Babylonian chronicle of the reign of the latter monarch and a few historical notices in his cylinder inscriptions, we have but little indication of the existence of historical records. A discovery of the greatest importance has just been made by Father Scheil. In the Mujelibeh mound, one of the principal heaps of ruins in the enceinte of Babylon, he has discovered a long inscription of Nabonidus, the last of the Babylonian kings (B. C. 555-538), which contains a mass of historical and other data of the greatest value. The monument in question contains a record of the war of revenge conducted by the Babylonians and their Mandian allies against Assyria, for the destruction of the city by Sennacherib, in B. C. 698; an account of the election and coronation of Nabonidus in B. C. 555, and the wonderful dream in which Nebuchadnezzar appeared to him; as well as an account of the restoration of the temple of the Moon god at Kharran, accompanied by a chronological record which enables us to fix the date of the so-called Scythian invasion. There is also a valuable reference to the murder of Sennacherib by his son in Tebet, B. C. 681. The account of the dream is incomplete, but it is most important as showing the implicit belief which these Babylonian kings had in portents by dreams, and is also a remarkable confirmation of the statements of Daniel in regard to the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar.

Miscellaneous. It was announced in March that Colonel G. E. Raum of San Francisco, Cal., had succeeded in finding the "cap of the Sphinx," supposed at one time to have adorned the head of that ancient Egyptian landmark. The cap, it is said, measures four feet three inches in breadth, and is marked with three lotus columns, beneath which is a serpent. It was found in the temple of the Sphinx, between the forepaws, at a depth of about fifteen feet below the surface.

Attempts are being renewed to uncover the remains, supposed to be those of an ancient house-boat and to have been built by the Roman emperor Caligula, which for centuries have been lying at the bottom of the lake of Nemi near Rome, Italy. Some articles of bronze, showing high artistic skill, have been detached and brought to the surface.

RELIGION.

The A. L. G. A. C.-A new organization for aggressive Christian work, the idea of which is said to have originated with William Phillips Hall, a business man of Greenwich, Conn., was formed in March. It is called the American League of the Grand Army of the Cross.

The league is intended to supplement the work of all churches. Like the Salvation Army and the American Volunteers, it is modelled on the military plan; but it is intended to work socially as well as religiously, and thus reach all, and not merely the lower, classes. Its object is to promote a revival of the spirit, work, and general evangelistic enterprise of primitive Christianity." There is no formal creed or doctrine-the Bible is the only text-book, and the soldiers must believe in it from cover to cover." They believe that all Christian believers are required, according to the Scriptures, to engage in active personal work with the unsaved. Meetings are to be held in churches, theatres, amusement halls, or under whatever roof the new army can get. Open-air meetings also will be held, but there are to be no street processions, as with the Salvation Army. Neither is there to be a uniform. The only distinctive mark of the American League and it is to be worn at all times-is a button, or more correctly speaking, a cross, not unlike a Maltese cross, but with the lower arm larger than the others. It is in red, white, and blue colors, with the letter "A" in the centre, "A" on the top, "G" on the left, "C" on the right, and "L" on the lower arm-the initials of the title of the organization.

Any Christian believer who is in good and regular standing in any evangelical work may become a member. Persons converted in the work of the league may become members of the organization, but they must in every case join some evangelical church of their choice within two months thereafter.

The present headquarters of the league are at the home of its president-colonel, W. P. Hall, Greenwich, Conn.

Missions in Japan.-Last year a deputation from the prudential committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was sent to look over the missionary field in Japan. The members of the deputation were Rev. Dr. James L. Barton secretary in charge of the Japanese mission; Rev. W. P. Ellison, of the prudential committee; Rev. Dr. A. H. Bradford of Montclair, N. J.; and Rev. Dr. James G. Johnson of Chicago, Ill. They were to inquire into the status of missionary property in Japan, the management of institutions under missionary supervision, the mutual attitude of native converts and foreign missionaries, and the best methods for the future prosecution of mission work in co-operation with the native churches.

The report of the deputation was submitted January 27.