London journalism has sustained a severe loss in the sudden
death of Mr. James Macdonell, who died on Sunday, at the early age of 37. A man of unusual breadth of culture, with a special knowledge of all things French, and all modern eccle- siastic,a1 systems, Mr. Macilonell possessed in addition almost in their perfection the faculties of the modern journalist—his power of clear exposition, his light touch, and his insight into the meaning of events—while he had on some subjects a most unusual brilliancy of expression. For durable work he had had no time, his life being occupied as a writer of "leaders," but the book he had planned out, and partly prepared on France, would have been a distinct addition to English knowledge of the country which it is most important to Englishmen to know; and many of his articles, always recognisable by the initiated, made a deep impression on the political world. What he was to his intimate friends, with his depth of tender-
ness and fund of intellectual sympathy, only they can know ; but society had begun to recognise his brilliance in con- versation, his house had begun to be a centre for the cultivated, and his position in his profession was well displayed at his funeral. It is scarcely too much to say, that if the train which carried his friends to Beckenham had been wrecked, Liberal journalism in London would momentarily have stopped. Short as his career was, his departure will be to many besides his family a life-long regret.
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