THE MAGAZINES.

THE Magazines are not very striking this month, the most attractive article perhaps being Mr. Goldwin Smith's " Ques- tion of Disestablishment," upon which we commented last week. The Nineteenth Century has also a plan for federating the Empire, by Sir Charles Tupper, "High Commissioner for Canada," which at least reveals the value the great Colonies put upon themselves. Sir Charles Tupper would have the repre- sentative of each of the three great " Dominions " made a Cabinet Minister of Great Britain, with a right of giving his views whenever any question of foreign policy which touches any Colony is discussed. The privilege would not be accom- panied by any concession on the part of the Colonies, Sir C. Tupper holding that they already do their part towards the national defence by their arrangements for defending them- selves, and, indeed, wishing that England, instead of taxing them to any extent, should tax herself for their benefit. She should, be conceives, put on a five-shilling pro- tective duty against all corn not grown in the Colonies,— that is, in fact, should for their benefit enter into a war of tariffs with the United States, which, of course, would at once retaliate if we placed on her main product a differential duty. The great Colonies would become, in fact, subsidised allies, who would do nothing in return for their subsidies except defend themselves and " influence "—that is, control—the policy of Great Britain, depriving us, among other things, of any advantage to be derived from the secrecy of our policy. That is rather too one-sided an arrangement.—Mr. W. H. Wilkins describes with approval a movement in the United States which will by-and-by be of importance to the world. Laws are being enacted of continually increasing stringency for the restriction of "undesirable immigration," and it is evident from the testi- mony quoted, that opinion is gradually crystallising into a policy prohibiting all workmen's immigration. It is, for instance, considered a grievance that workmen should visit the United States, earn wages, and return home for the winter, the idea being that they reduce American wages and avoid taxation. They do not avoid indirect taxation, and if they reduce wages, they benefit the consumer, and add to the total amount of production by which America grows rich. We agree with Mr. Wilkins that the Union will ultimately prohibit immigration, but hold that in doing so she will greatly diminish her resources, though she may gain by increasing the homogeneity of her people.—Mr. E. Wake- field's paper on " The Wisdom of Gombo "is an account of the proverbs current among the French-speaking Negroes of Louisiana, and natives of the Mauritius. The wisdom is not very original, Gombo proverbs being, in fact, variants of the proverbs in use all over the world. The only truly original one we perceive is, "The teeth do not wear mourning," meaning that the mourning Negro shows his real feeling by displaying his white teeth in laughter or smiles. Is Mr. Wakefield right, by-the-way, in his interpretation of "Words [paroles] must die that people may live " ? He considers that a sarcasm on gossip. We should have thought it a justification of lying in order to secure profit. All Asiatics avowedly, and most Europeans secretly, draw a distinction between trade lies and lies of any other kind.—Mrs. Lynn Linton "slangs "—there is no other word—the insurgent women of our day with all the vigour of Mr. F. Harrison, and very little of his artistic restraint. The effect is abuse, not argument, even though the abuse be epigrammatic.—Mr. Shaw-Lefevre writes a most reassuring paper about "The Naval Policy of France." He maintains that the French cannot hope to beat the English in a mari- time war, though they might inflict serious losses on our commerce; and, moreover, that the responsible men know this quite well. Their object in maintaining a great Fleet is, not to beat England, but to make it a dangerous matter for England to interfere, and, moreover, to be ready to fight any other two maritime Powers,—for example, Ger- many and Italy. These ends they attain ; but when- ever they seek for more, the British Fleet is raised again to a proportion, one-third stronger than the French

Fleet, which has not varied seriously in fifty years. It is a thoughtful paper, though the possible action of America is left too entirely out of sight.—Mr. Gladstone's argument about "Ancient Beliefs in a Future State" is not written so clearly as his papers upon politics. He wishes to express his belief that the Jewish people did expect an existence after death, though the extent of the influence exercised by that belief cannot be ascertained ; but he does not allow sufficiently for the grand fact of Jewish history, the enormous disparity between the spiritualism of the few and the earthiness of the many. Moses was teaching when the people set up a calf to worship. He admits, however, fully that the future life is not a part of the Mosaic teaching, and is inclined to believe that in the providence of God this essential dogma was preserved from the most primeval times in the pagan creeds, more especially those of Egypt and of Persia. We should be in- clined rather to hold that belief in a future state was inherent in man, like the belief in a difference between right and wrong, and that it became prominent or dim in each creed, Christianity excepted, according to the varying spiritualness of successive teachers. Mr. Gladstone, however, as we said, is not as clear as usual, and it may be this very thought which he is en- deavouring to express under cover of his analysis of the ancient creeds. Does he not, by-the-way, a little underrate the popular Greek belief in a future state ? A ristophanes ridiculed it, it is true, but so might any Parisian playwright, without quite proving that the belief had lost its hold upon the majority.

The Fortnightly Review is not very interesting this month. The place of the editor, who for the last number or two has given us really original stories, is taken by Mr. Mallock, who offers the world an "imaginary journal of Marie Bashkirtseff during an imaginary period of her life," and tells us pretty distinctly that he will not be restrained in writing by con- siderations of the proper. He must do work better than any he has done yet as novelist—for we hold his book on Cyprus to be of its kind nearly perfect—before the English public will pardon him for thrusting conventionalities aside ; but we must hope for the best.—The place of honour is given to Mr. F.

Harrison's lecture on "The Emancipation of Women," which is so fine that we pardon its appearance here, though we think the new practice of publishing such lectures rather takes fresh- ness out of the magazines. It is nice enough for the lecturers, who thus obtain accurate reports ; but it is not equally pleasant for the reader, who has already seen the gist of the lecture in the newspapers, and who, like most readers of the present day, cares more about matter than form. Mr. J. Addington Symonds, in " La Bate Humaine," gives us his idea of Zola, which is that the French novelist is not a realist but an idealist, the realism being chiefly a careful attention to details, and the idealism being proved by the dominating conception which runs through his work. That is partly true ; but one could imagine a statue which was ex- pressive through and through of a high dominating con- ception, but on account of a loathsome realism, created on the mind little of the impression such a conception should have made.—We are sick of M. Lanin's Russia. Every word he writes may be true of some isolated case, but his notion of a great Government intent on demoralising and blinding its people in their childhood, not for any pleasure or advantage, but to make its own work easier, is to us incredible. The apprentice system of Lancashire could once have been described as M. Lanin describes Russian education ; but at the worst those who profited by the system were only callous to its results.—Mr. Auberon Herbert's paper, "Under the Yoke of the Butterflies," is, as usual with him, finely written, with its curious felicity of unlaboured phrase, and, what is less usual with him, is full also of sound sense. This, for instance, is at least a happy embodiment of an accurate thought:—

" The world persistently presents us with the paradox that a very large per centage of its people live habitually doing what they don't want to do; giving subscriptions they don't want to give ; visiting and receiving people they don't want to visit and receive ; saying things they don't mean and don't want to say ; spending time and money which they don't want to spend; sup- porting measures and proceedings they don't want to support ; putting into this or that kind of office people whom they would rather not see there ; in fact, generally contradicting themselves, because they have attached themselves to some system or other which they find it is, on the whole, easier to obey than disobey."

Mr. Herbert's object is to advocate greater freedom for the well-to-do, not freedom in the bad sense, but emancipation

from the tyranny of custom. He would have girls and boys know each other better, split society into voluntary coteries of intimates, and establish a system of co-opera- tion to secure comfort. All Lord Bigakers, moreover, should insist on being well served, and then the tradesmen, recognising an ideal, would serve other people well too. It is all very pleasant, and most of it sound teaching ; but just let Mr. Herbert try a little of his voluntary co-operation—say, a League for sweeping away snow in Portman Square—and see what comes of it. If he appoints a paid warden, the work will be done, and if be does not, it will not, that is the upshot ; and so with every other end to which his system can be applied. People do try it in forming book-clubs, and they generally break up in a volley of notes, which are really, as the children say, "swears."—We must extract from a charming essay by Mr. Wallace on "English and American Flowers," the following account of rural scenes in America, which almost justifies the severe judgment of the native critic, that across the Atlantic "a whole huge continent has been so touched by human hands, that over a large part of its surface

it has been reduced to a state of unkempt sordid ugliness :"—

" What most impresses the nature-loving Englishman while travelling in America is, the newness and rawness of the country, and the almost universal absence of that harmonious inter- blending of wild nature with human cultivation, which is so charming over a large part of England. In these North-Eastern 'States, the native forests have been so ruthlessly destroyed, that fine trees are comparatively rare, and such noble elms, beeches, oaks, and sycamores as are to be found arching over the lanes and shading the farmhouses and cottages in a thousand English villages, are only to be seen near a few of the towns in the older settled States, or as isolated specimens which are re- garded as something remarkable. Instead of the old hedgerows with tall elms, spreading oaks, and an occasional beech, horn- beam, birch, or holly, we see everywhere the ugly snake-fence of split rails, or the still more unsightly boundary of barbed wire. Owing to the country being mostly cut up into one-mile square sections, subdivided into quarters, along the outer boundaries of which only is there any right-of-way for access to the different farms, the chief country roads or tracks zig-zag along these section-lines without any regard to the contours of the land. It is probably owing to the cost of labour and the necessity of bringing large areas under cultivation as quickly as possible, that our system of fencing by live hedges, growing on a bank, with a ditch on one side for drainage, seems to be absolutely unknown in America."

—"A Son of Adam's" "Impressions of England" do not

impress us much. We do not care to hear that the worship of "le tob " does not extend to hotels, that English prudery makes

a pandemonium of some fine London streets, or that English- men despise book-learning. What we want now is serious impressions of our society, such as Professor Karl Hillebrand once gave in a more condensed form. The mere external differences between English life and Continental life are too well known to need repetition.

There is an exceedingly accurate sketch of the condition of foreign politics, wanting perhaps a little in breadth, in Black- wood, and a story of Austrian barrack life by Miss Gerard, which strikes us as highly characteristic.

The worthiest papers in the Contemporary Review are Dr. Underwood's on Mr. Lowell, Mr. Lecky's on "Carlyle's

Message to his Age," and Mr. Sidney Low's on "The Rise of the Suburbs." Dr. Underwood describes Mr. Lowell, as we might expect, as the flower and outcome of a strict but well-off New England family, cradled among books, and at College addicted to reading everything which did not help on his studies. His early life was passed at home in the company of his beautiful and intellectual wife, and it was not till the declaration of war with Mexico woke his burning indignation against both war and slavery, that he stepped into the world with "Hosea Biglow," which gradually affected the whole opinion of the North. After this, his life for many years was that of the literary American with means, little general society, many intimates, much reading, and much

honour from the people around. Although he lost his wife, his life was a happy one, for he conversed with all that was conversible in the Union, edited the Atlantic Monthly for occupation, and lived every day amidst the Nature he loved.

He was a man of nerve, held always that men obtained about as much honour as they deserved, and throughout life never once replied to a critic or a politician. The only office he ever held was that of Minister—to England and Spain. Dr. Underwood, we may mention, notes incidentally that in America there are neither larks nor daisies. Surely both would be worth importation.—Mr. Lecky believes that Carlyle will steadily rise in popular estimation, and tells the following story of " Saxtor Resartus : "—

" When at last, with great difficulty, he procured its admission into Fraser's Magazine, Carlyle was accustomed to say that he only knew of two men who found anything to admire in it. One of them was the great American writer, Emerson who afterwards superintended its publication in America. The Other was a priest from Cork, who wrote to say that he wished to take in Fraser's Magazine as long as anything by this writer appeared in it. On the other hand, several persons told Fraser that they would stop taking in the magazine if any more of such nonsense appeared in it. The editor wrote to Carlyle that the work had been received with unqualified disapprobation.' Five years elapsed before it was reprinted as a separate book, and in order that it should be reprinted, it was found necessary for a number of Carlyle's private friends to club together and guarantee the publisher from loss by engaging to take 300 copies. But when, a few years before his death, a cheap edition of Carlyle's works was published, Sartor Resartus ' had acquired such a popularity that 30,000 copies were almost immediately sold, and since his death it has been reprinted in a 6d. form ; it has penetrated far and wide through all classes, and it is now, I suppose, one of the most popular and most in- fluential of the books that were published in England in the second quarter of the century."

The world has endorsed Carlyle's opinion of Goethe, and will, Mr. Lecky thinks, endorse much of his condemnation of political economy, from which, indeed, the whole spirit of the age is a departure. Carlyle, too, believed in the modern doc- trine, the state organisation of labour, though not, as Mr. Lecky has also noticed, in the modern doctrine that the State should not whip scoundrels. The paper is, in fact, a plea that even as regards practical life, Carlyle was only before his time. Mr. Lecky should have added, to complete it, some criticism on Carlyle's Gospel of Force.—Mr. Sidney J. Low shows conclusively that the tendency of the population of Britain is not towards the centres of cities, which are everywhere declining, but towards suburbs, and maintains with much force that suburban life is a healthy one :—

" The suburb dweller, at any rate, may, under proper conditions of suburban existence, go far towards attaining a way of life' which is reasonably healthy and natural. His horizon is not limited by walls of brick and stone. If he does not live in the fields, he may have the fields at his door ; he may be able to stretch his limbs by a walk over a breezy common, and get the smoke of the city out of his lungs by a ramble down a country lane. If he is doomed to spend his working days in shop or office or warehouse, he has at least the opportunity of hurrying home, when his work is done, to sleep and amuse himself in a purer atmosphere. In his home-life he is half a countryman, if in his business he is obliged to be a townsman. Nor does it follow that the townsman as such is less vigorous and active than the country- man. The stunted and degenerating masses of our east-ends have lost their stamina, not because they live in a town, but because they live unhealthily in it. They are crowded into narrow and ill-ventilated courts, amid dirt and bad drainage and insufficient light and water and ventilation, to say nothing of insufficient food. But the townsman of the middle classes, who has learned how to live healthily in his suburb, is physically quite the equal

of his rural competitor The athlete who desires to excel in the eyes of his fellows devotes his days and nights to the study of cricket, football, rowing, tennis, or golf ; and these are sports and games which flourish better in the suburbs than in the country. A moderate length of river, a small patch of open common, a few acres of well-kept turf are all that is required for most of them. The free spaces of down and fallow are no help to them; and, on the other hand, the isolation of rural life renders impossible that organised combination and constant disciplined practice which is indispensable to some of them."

That is worth remembering, more especially if, as Mr. Low maintains is the case, the workmen are following the middle class into the suburbs.